Clinton: Released Taliban Leaders ‘Not a Threat to the United States’

by Natalie Johnson, Heritage Foundation, Daily Signal, June 11, 2014

Hillary Clinton said in an interview today that the five Taliban leaders released in exchange for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “are not a threat to the United States.”

Clinton was responding to NBC Correspondent Cynthia McFadden’s assertion that many people feel the United States is “less safe today” as a result of the exchange.

“These five guys are not a threat to the United States,” Clinton said this morning on “Today.” “They are a threat to the safety and security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s up to those two countries to make the decision once and for all that these are threats to them.”

James Carafano, vice president for the Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, called Clinton’s claim “twisted, tortured logic.”

“The Taliban harbors al-Qaeda and knowingly created conditions that allowed 9/11 to happen,” Carafano said. “How can you claim its leaders aren’t a threat to us?”

According to Carafano, the military’s “principle criterion” for releasing Guantanamo Bay detainees is that they no longer pose a threat to the U.S.

“If the Secretary’s assertion is right, why were the Taliban five not cleared for release from Guantanamo before?” Carafano said.

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