Angry Leaders Call Bergdahl Swap ‘Wrong Message’

Top leaders in Congress are seeking answers about the prisoner swap that set five Taliban leaders free in exchange for captured Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., heads the Senate Intelligence Committee and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairs the House Intelligence Committee.

According to a New York Times report, both Feinstein and Rogers want to know why the administration did not press for a better deal with the Taliban, such as an agreement to end its role in international terrorism and seek unity with the Afghan government.

"This was the wrong message at the wrong time, and we are going to pay for this decision for years," Rogers warned.

"We negotiated with the terrorist Haqqani network. Oh, and by the way, this happened before the election even occurred," he continued.

"This weekend -- this weekend -- the Taliban tried to assassinate one of the political leaders, Abdullah Abdullah, who's running for office in Afghanistan," he said.

Feinstein, meanwhile, expressed shock that she and other congressional leaders were kept in the dark on the prisoner swap.

"[The whole] deal has been one that the administration has kept very close, and in the eyes of many of us, too close," she said.

Nevertheless, Secretary of State John Kerry is defending the deal, saying that while the Taliban leaders may go back to the battlefield, the United States can and will take action against them.