Sen. Lindsey Graham says news that one of the five Taliban members released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for
U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has now reportedly returned to the battlefield comes as no surprise.
"The likelihood of these five going back to the battle is almost as certain as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west," the South Carolina Republican said while appearing on CNN Friday. "They are not reformed."
According to Graham, "the leaders of the Taliban, collaborated with al-Qaida to plan attacks on our homeland and [President Barack Obama] is looking for any reason he can find to release people from Guantanamo Bay to fulfill his campaign promise to close the place.
"It's a dangerous decision," he said. "I think it's unjustified and quite frankly, it's going to come back to haunt us."
Graham, who is now considering running for president in 2016, says that he would "absolutely not" have released the detainees in exchange for Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2009.
He was released in May in exchange for five Taliban commanders who were being detained at Guantanamo Bay. Officials are now saying
Bergdahl will be charged with desertion for leaving his post before he was captured.
"If he had been a Medal of Honor winner, I would not have done this. It undercuts the war effort and puts our nation at risk," he explained.
"No military member should expect the commander-in-chief to undercut the war effort," he said.
"The war is still ongoing in Afghanistan. These five people are going to go back to the battle," he added.
Graham contends that releasing the detainees, as Obama did is "an affront to all of the Afghans fighting to change their country, and it's an affront to the Americans who have served."
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