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July 10, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield 0 Comments

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

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To understand how bad this chummy photo is, you have to understand how bad Badruddin Haqqani is. The Haqqani Network has done the most damage to the US in Afghanistan and Badruddin Haqqani was one of three brothers running it.

He was declared a terrorist and targeted by a drone strike. The Haqqani Network is something between Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Its Al Qaeda links have made it much deadlier than the ordinary Taliban and with Al Qaeda hardly present in Afghanistan even toward the end of Bush’s term, the Haqqani Network is the next best thing to it.

It is for all intents and purposes the top terrorist organization in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for nearly five years, is seen in a new image mugging for a picture with a jolly jihadi who has his arm resting casually on Bergdahl’s shoulder.
The bro-hug was posted Wednesday to the Twitter account of someone associated with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, according to Fox News.
The supposed captor was identified by The Middle East Research Institute as a since-slain Taliban commander, Badruddin Haqqani.
Bergdahl, who was taken prisoner when he mysteriously drifted away from his unit while on patrol in Paktika province, sports a grin in the photo.
The tweet accompanying the image gives a shout-out to the Army sergeant, who was freed in exchange for five Taliban soldiers released from captivity at Guantanamo Bay by the Obama administration.
Haqqani was killed in a US drone strike in August 2012.

The photo once again backs up the claims that Bergdahl was mostly on good terms with his captors. We have yet to see a photo of him armed, but it’s not impossible that the Taliban could release such a photo as well.