American soldier Bowe Bergdahl—who was a captive of the Taliban militants in Afghanistan for five years and is now facing a court martial for desertion and misbehaviour after his escape—has for the first time described the ordeal he went through.
He said one of the things he could vividly remember was how he was asked ridiculous questions by his captors, according to the New York Post.
"Picture someone taking a bag, throwing it into the closet, shutting the door and just forgetting about it. That was basically how they treated me," he told filmmaker Mark Boal in interviews that were being broadcast as part of a project on Bergdahl's life. He lent the recordings to "Serial" which is hosted by Sarah Koenig, the New York Post reported.
Sergeant Bergdahl, 29, said his guards made video footages of him, asking him stupid questions and shaving his beard into shapes they found amusing.
"They ask you, is [President Barack] Obama gay and sleeps with men?"
They were also curious about where U.S. military bases got their prostitutes, alcohol and drugs, and were obsessed with American soft drinks, he said. "They love Mountain Dew. If you want to piss people off that country all you do is cut off their sugar supply,'' he said.
In the latest episode of the popular podcast, which is focused on Bergdahl's alleged desertion from the Army in 2000 and subsequent five-year captivity by the Taliban, he shared details on his life as a captive.
When he was caught, he said the guards beat him with a rubber hose, then blindfolded and moved him to a new home somewhere in North Waziristan in Pakistan.
While there, he said he was placed on an Afghan bed, chained his feet to the ends of the bed and his hands to the tops of the bed "so that basically I was spread-eagle on the bed and blindfolded."
According to him, he saw his first chance at escape soon after his abduction in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province, when a water delivery temporarily distracted his captors. He managed to slip off the chains binding his hands and feet and unlatched the flimsy wire holding the door to his cell.
However, the Taliban quickly recaptured him.
He made a second attempt at escape by climbing down from the window of a room in the upper floor of a house where he was detained. He made his escape in the dead of night. However, after a few hours of walking, he accidentally stepped off a cliff and badly injured his left side.
Unable to walk, Bergdahl crawled on the ground and tried to stay hidden in shelters made of sticks for the next week. To survive, he ate a few blades of grass and drank filthy water.
Sick and starving for eight days in the open ground, he was eventually recaptured by the Taliban.
He said he was so frail and sick that the militants only ripped out some of his hair and beard — as opposed to beating him — as punishment.
"That escape was the last time I saw stars since until the night Special Forces picked me up," he said.
Bergdahl was released on May 31, 2014, as part of a prisoner exchange for five Taliban members who were being held at the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay.
On Dec. 14, the U.S. Army announced that Bergdahl would be tried by general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.
