American Cipher: Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan

Farwell, a freelance writer and Afghanistan war veteran, and reporter Ames convincingly rebut popular misconceptions about the then-23-year-old Private Bowe Bergdahl’s desertion of his post in Afghanistan in 2009, an act that led to his becoming the “longest-held American POW since Vietnam.” Shortly after walking off his base, Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban and held for five years under horrific conditions. He later claimed that he abandoned his post to walk to a base 18 miles away to report “an epidemic of moral corruption” in his battalion to a general. The authors, who interviewed Bergdahl’s family members and made extensive use of the soldier’s sworn statements to Army investigators and the lead investigator’s final report, humanize their subject with a detailed look at his life before Afghanistan. That period included other instances of unrealistic planning, as when Bergdahl arrived in France to join the Foreign Legion and was taken aback that French was the predominant language spoken there, and erratic behavior, which led to his 2006 discharge from the Coast Guard for depression. The engrossing narrative intertwines Bergdahl’s odyssey with an effective critique of U.S. policy in Afghanistan under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Readers looking for a nontechnical history of America’s longest war and a nuanced look at Bergdahl’s story will find that here. (Mar.)