Kerry pushes back on prisoner swap criticism

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that threats by the five freed Taliban prisoners swapped for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to return to war and kill Americans are "a lot of baloney."

Defending the swap that secured the release of the last U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, Kerry said the movements of the five Taliban prisoners released to Qatar will be closely ­monitored.

"No one should doubt the capacity of America to protect Americans," Kerry said from France in a taped interview for CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Bergdahl, held captive for nearly five years, was released May 31 in exchange for five Taliban prisoners held by the U.S. at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. The deal requires that the five men remain in Qatar for at least a year.

"They're not the only ones keeping an eye on them," Kerry said of the Qataris, while declining to elaborate.

"We have proved what we are capable of doing with Al-Qaida," he said.

The threats by the Taliban prisoners to resume fighting in Afghanistan and kill Americans amount to propaganda, Kerry said. "They'll say whatever they want to stir the waters," he said.

Whether or not Bergdahl deserted his post in eastern Afghanistan, as some of his former fellow soldiers claim, "it would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an American behind," Kerry said.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and a former Vietnam prisoner of war, criticized the deal on the same program. The five Taliban prisoners "were evaluated and judged as too great a risk to release," McCain said.

Lawmakers of both parties have faulted President Obama's administration for failing to notify and consult them about the prisoner exchange in advance.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, echoed that concern Sunday as she questioned Kerry's assertion that the freed Taliban members would be carefully monitored.