--- title: Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War | TIME description: The plight of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, an American soldier held by the Taliban since 2009, is visible again thanks to a video his father uploaded to YouTube canonical: https://time.com/video/veK3f2wr/ og:title: Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War og:description: The plight of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, an American soldier held by the Taliban since 2009, is visible again thanks to a video his father uploaded to YouTube og:url: https://time.com/video/veK3f2wr/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/veK3f2wr/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War twitter:description: The plight of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, an American soldier held by the Taliban since 2009, is visible again thanks to a video his father uploaded to YouTube twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/veK3f2wr/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War [Watch (HLS stream): Bowe Robert Bergdahl: The Last Prisoner of War](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/veK3f2wr.m3u8) (3:05)  _Published 2012-05-17. The plight of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, an American soldier held by the Taliban since 2009, is visible again thanks to a video his father uploaded to YouTube_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:24 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Trump: Bowe Bergdahl Should Have Been Executed](/video/8iQ4cZEl/) ### Trump: Bowe Bergdahl Should Have Been Executed [Army Launches Bowe Bergdahl Probe](/video/Fww601Rd/) ### Army Launches Bowe Bergdahl Probe [Bowe Bergdahl, Taliban Prisoner Swap Under Fire](/video/1QtQIZ7U/) ### Bowe Bergdahl, Taliban Prisoner Swap Under Fire --- ## Transcript It is very unnerving to be a prisoner. Bowe Berghdal is the last known living P. O. W from Afghanistan and Iraq. My name is Nate Rowling's and I'm a writer for Times Magazine. And I've been working on a story about a soldier named Bowe Berghdal, who has been held by the Taliban since June of 2009. He joined the army in late 2008 and deployed to Afghanistan. And was only in the country for about two months when he went missing. And for the past two years, there have been efforts to try to bring him home. Most recently, there were negotiations with the Taliban for a proposed prisoner swap. But those negotiations fell through a little over a month ago. Prisoners of war have been a huge issue in almost every war. And towards the end of the Vietnam War, they became a huge political issue. When we were trying to bring a lot of the airmen who'd been shot down over Hanoi home, including John McCain, who one day would run for president. Scared I won't be able to go home. And this very interested me in particular, because in 2006, when I was an army officer, I took part in a series of missions looking for the remains of a solider named Matt Moppen. Who was captured in 2004 during a fierce fire fight and then was missing. So, for four years his family had no news, no idea what had happened to him and that's one of the most devastating thing that can happen to a family. I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America. [ INAUDIBLE ] And I miss them every day. The taliban have release four videos of Bowe Berghdal throughout this time. And each one shows him with a little sorta different some change his beard has grown a little bit. His family is intensely private. And after Bowe was captured, they stayed silent for a very long time. But this week, Bob Berghdall decided to open up, and go public, and speak a little bit about this. I'm the father of captured US soldier, Bowe Robert Berghdal. I can't remain silent no longer. One of the reasons was there was a story in a local newspaper that said he was frustrated with the government, and that he was angry at their efforts to bring his son home. He told us that's not entirely true. We must also thank those who have cared for our son. We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home. He is frustrated. He's very nervous that his son's plight will become politicized and that in an election year nothing will happen because it's politically unpalatable to negotiate with terrorists. But at the same time he's very happy with the relationship that he's had with the Department of Defense, with the State Department. Then all the efforts that they've been making to bring us all home. I'm afraid that, I might never see them again. It's been a little while since last video. But, they really hold on the hope that their son is still alive because these negotiations were going on and as long as the Taliban believes that they can get something. 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