The Meat of the Matter on Bergdahl's Release

Obama Struck a Good Deal With the Taliban from the Editorial Board of Bloomberg
"On balance, the exchange made sense. It isn't just that a U.S. soldier has been recovered at little net cost to U.S. security interests: The release is part of a broader effort to serve those interests. The administration has long been trying to engage with the Taliban as the U.S. war effort winds down, and rightly so. ... If the U.S.'s exit from Afghanistan is not to end in disaster for the people of that country, there must be some kind of accommodation between their government and the Taliban. By releasing the five Taliban commanders, the administration hoped not just to get Bergdahl back, but also to move that larger process along."