US soldier turned Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl’s bizarre story subject of Serial podcast

MOST of us have never heard of Bowe Bergdahl, but his story’s about to become an obsession - and drop a bombshell on the US.

MANY Australians may not yet have heard of soldier Bowe Bergdahl, but get ready — his bizarre story is set to become a national obsession.

The US Army Sergeant, who walked away from his military unit in Afghanistan in 2009 and was held captive for five years by the Taliban, is the subject of the second season of the insanely popular podcast Serial.

The already chart-topping first episode, which hit the internet overnight, sees Bergdahl open up for the first time about his years spent as a captive — and, most controversially, why he walked out on his comrades.

“Gutsy, but still stupid” is how Bergdahl, who has since been charged with desertion, described his decision to abandon his military base for a midnight wander into the militant-infested Afghanistan desert six years ago, then aged just 23.

“Suddenly, it really starts to sink in that I really did something bad. Or, not bad, but I really did something serious.”

He says he was captured and for the next five years, his only contact with the world was in disturbing propaganda videos that showed him looking emaciated and hollow-eyed, begging for release.

In 2014, he got his wish, via a controversial prisoner exchange that saw the US release five Guantánamo Bay detainees in return for Bergdahl’s freedom. At the time, the government said it was because he looked so dangerously ill.

Now 29 and living in Idaho, he was charged in March with desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. He faces life in prison, though an Army officer has recommended that Bergdahl’s case be moved to a special misdemeanour-level military court.

His lawyer Eugene Fidell says politicians and would-be politicians have been using Bergdahl as a talking point to push their own agendas for months, a situation he described as creating “gale-force political winds.”

While his case has launched a thousand opinions — and sinister theories — Bergdahl’s voice has been missing from commentary around the issue, until now.

A Taliban propaganda video released Saturday, July 18, 2009 shows Bowe Bergdahl as a prisoner. Picture: AP Photo/Militant Video

Using 25 hours of recorded conversations between Bergdahl and screenwriter Mark Boal, Serial’s producers are promising to piece together his controversial story.

In the first episode, Bergdahl said he wanted to expose the “leadership failure” he experienced in Afghanistan.

He hasn’t yet elaborated on that failure, but said he believed at the time of his disappearance — and his plan to reappear at another location — would give him access to top officials.

After leaving the base in eastern Afghanistan after midnight on June 30, 2009, Sergeant Bergdahl said he worried about what his military colleagues would think when he came back, so he decided to try to get information on who was planting bombs in the area. That information would help smooth things over with military officials who would be angry at his departure, he figured.

But others have questioned the truth of his story, suggesting his motives were far from pure.

Fellow soldiers were suspicious of Bergdahl‘s odd and intense behaviour while in the army. He avoided spending time with his comrades, training hard alone, studying maps and reading books on philosophy. In Afghanistan, he spent more time with locals than his platoon. A documentary made about his unit at the time showed a group of men with little order or faith in their mission, wearing baseball caps instead of helmets and clashing with villagers.

Three days before he vanished, Bergdahl sent a final email to his parents: “The future is too good to waste on lies,” he wrote. “I am sorry for everything.”

After his capture, some of his countrymen, and even a fellow soldier from his unit, openly called him a traitor and demanded the US government leave him to his fate

Sarah Koenig, the host and executive producer of Serial, describes Bergdahl as a “radical, idiosyncratic” man. Far from just wandering off, she says Bergdahl shipped his personal items home, bought local attire and pulled out $300 in US dollars and Afghanis before leaving the base.

Bergdahl acknowledges his motives weren’t entirely idealistic.

“I was trying to prove to myself, I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me ... I was capable of being what I appeared to be,” Bergdahl says in the episode. “Doing what I did was me saying I am like Jason Bourne. I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world I was the real thing.”

He says after the sun came up, a group of Afghan men on motorcycles captured him as he walked through nearby flatland desert.

He also discusses the psychological torment of being held captive for years.

“It’s like how do I explain to a person that just standing in an empty dark room hurts?” Bergdahl recounts. “It’s like well, a person asked me, ‘Why does it hurt? Does your body hurt?’ Yes, your body hurts but it’s more than that. It’s mental, like, almost confused. ... I would wake up not even remembering what I was.”

He adds: “It’s like you’re standing there, screaming in your mind.”

President Barack Obama, pictured with Jani Bergdahl and Bob Bergdahl, has been criticised for having their son freed in exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees held by the United States. Picture: Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

The confounding case will make for captivating listening for Serial fans, but it’s also still very much a focus for American politicians, who just this week released a report about the prisoner exchange program.

Republicans in the House of Representatives armed forces committee on Wednesday said US President Barack Obama had not informed Congress about the controversial exchange in a timely manner.

The Republicans were especially critical of the release of five Guantanamo detainees to Qatar.

The first season of Serial focused on questions about the murder conviction of young Maryland man and developed a cult-like following.

It was downloaded 68 million times and became one of the most popular podcasts. Observers say the second season is likely to be even more popular.

Adnan Syed, who is in prison for Hae’s death, has had his case reopened following the broadcast.

The murder of Hae Min Lee was the subject of the podcast’s first series.