Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday defended the administration’s decision to negotiate for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, assuring that the U.S. will protect Americans from the Taliban.
“I don’t think anybody should doubt the capacity of the United States of America to protect Americans,” Kerry said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about the five Taliban members released from Guantanamo Bay in the prisoner swap. “So these guys pick a fight with us, in the future or now or at any time, at enormous risk, and we have proven what we’re capable of doing with al Qaeda.”
Kerry conceded that there is some risk releasing Guantanamo prisoners, but argued that Americans won’t necessarily be in greater danger.
“I’m not telling you that they don’t have some ability at some point to go back and get involved, but they also have an ability to get killed doing that,” he said, also noting that the Qataris aren’t the “only ones keeping an eye on” the released Taliban members over the next year.
Kerry wouldn’t comment on whether Bergdahl “served with honor and distinction,” but said that the U.S. was right to bring the soldier home.
“It would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an American behind, no matter what,” he said.
Watch the video via CNN:
