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07:03 GMT, 8 June 2012

New questions surround the disappearance of an American soldier who was captured by the Taliban
after an email that he sent to his parents hints that he was so disappointed with the American mission
in Afghanistan that he may have defected.

Shortly before he disappeared three years ago, Bowe Bergdahl told his parents he was 'ashamed to
even be American' and was disgusted with the Army. Bergdahl, a 26-year-old Army sergeant from
Hailey, Idaho, was taken prisoner on June 30, 2009, in Afghanistan.



The military has never detailed circumstances of his disappearance or capture, and he is not classified
as a deserter. He was initially listed as 'duty status unknown' and is now considered 'missing-captured.'

He is the only U.S. prisoner of war from the Afghanistan conflict, and U.S. officials say they are actively
trying to free him. The White House declined comment on the emails or Bergdahl's possible motivation
for leaving his base in eastern Afghanistan in 2009.

The Rolling Stone article, to be published Friday, also quotes other soldiers and associates of Bergdahl's
as saying that he had talked about walking to Pakistan if his deployment was 'lame' and that shortly
before his disappearance he had asked whether he should take his weapon if he left the base.

Friends and other soldiers describe a survivalist mentality, and Bergdahl's father, Bob, told the magazine
that his son was 'living in a novel.'

'The future is too good to waste on lies,' one email reads. 'And life is way too short to care for
the damnation of others, as well as to spend it helping fools with their ideas that are wrong.



In 2010, rumors circulated following allegations made by Taliban leader Haji Nadeem, who said that Bergdahl
has been training and helping the Al Qaeda operatives how to make bombs.

Pentagon officials immediately denied the charges, saying that the stories told by Nadeem didn’t ‘hold much
water from the get-go’ since he claimed that Bergdahl had weapons and arms on him when he was captured,
which is not true.

Both official reports and the Rolling Stone article say that Bergdahl left the base with only a bottle of water
and a compass.

In spite of Pentagon denials, the emails that Bergdahl sent to his parents reveal that he was in a seemingly
emotional state at the time of his disappearance, which may lend credence to the theories that he may have
ulterior motives behind his imprisonment.