Bowe Bergdahl to be questioned next week about capture

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will meet next week with the general who’s looking into how the now-freed prisoner of war was captured by the Taliban in 2009, the Army and his attorney said.

Attorney Eugene Fidell told CNN he will know for sure next week exactly when the meeting will take place.

Bergdahl has met once before, briefly, with Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, the point person for the Army’s investigation.

The 28-year-old soldier spent five years in the hands of Taliban militants after he disappeared in Afghanistan in June 2009.

After he was released in May in exchange for five senior Taliban members held by the U.S. military, Bergdahl underwent counseling and medical care at a hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

The news of Bergdahl’s freedom initially was met with jubilation, but it quickly turned as many called for an investigation into his disappearance and captivity. Some critics accused the soldier of deserting his comrades in war.

An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded he left his outpost deliberately and of his own free will, according to an official who was briefed on the report.

The Army has no definitive finding that Bergdahl deserted because that would require knowing his intent – something officials couldn’t learn without talking to the soldier, a U.S. military official recently told CNN.

Bergdahl is now back on regular duty at the headquarters of U.S. Army North in Texas. He is working with a unit responsible for homeland defense, civil support operations and security cooperation programs involving countries such as Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.

He will eventually be given a position commensurate with his rank of sergeant, the Army said earlier this month.

Bergdahl was a private first class when he was captured, and the Army extended his enlistment and twice promoted him on schedule while he was in captivity.

A grateful Bergdahl ‘understands that his life has been saved,’ lawyer says