Bowe Bergdahl will be charged with desertion, lawyer says

WASHINGTON - Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by Taliban forces in Afghanistan in 2009 and returned to the United States in a controversial prisoner swap last year, will be charged with desertion and 'misbehavior before the enemy,” his lawyer said Wednesday.

Bergdahl vanished on June 30, 2009, when he allegedly walked away from his unit after he expressed misgivings about the military's role in Afghanistan. He was captured by the Taliban and held by members of the Haqqani network, which operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, for nearly five years.

Bergdahl, 28, will be formally charged Wednesday, said his attorney, Eugene Fidell. A hearing in the case will take place next month, and there has been no discussion about a plea yet, Fidell said.

At the hearing, which will be held at a military base in San Antonio, Texas, an Army prosecutor will present a preliminary case for proceeding to a court martial of Bergdahl.

Bergdahl, a native of Hailey, Idaho, has said he was kept in a small, confined space after he made an escape attempt and was recaptured. He also told military doctors he was the victim of abuse during his years in captivity.

The Obama administration secured his release in May of last year in an exchange that involved releasing five Taliban commanders who had been held at Guantanamo Bay.

The commanders were returned to Qatar, and the arrangement that led to Bergdahl's release drew immediate criticism, as some legislators questioned whether Obama had the legal authority to make the exchange.

An initial Army investigation later concluded that Bergdahl left his post without permission, further angering opponents of the prisoner swap.

The controversy surrounding the terms of his release trickled back to Bergdahl's hometown, where a deluge of threats led city officials to cancel his homecoming celebration.