America 
 
 Who Are The 5 Guantanamo Detainees In Prisoner Swap? 
 
 As part of a prisoner swap to free Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the United States agreed to transfer five Guantánamo detainees to Qatar. 
 
 NPR's Tom Bowman received a list of the prisoners being released from a Pentagon official. According to documents leaked to the organization WikiLeaks, all five prisoners were high-ranking Taliban officials. Some were considered high-risk and "likely to post a threat to the U.S., its interests and allies." 
 
 U.S. officials said working with the government of Qatar, they had ameliorated some of those risks, because the detainees will face restrictions on their movements and activities. 
 
 Using those leaked documents as a basis, NPR and The New York Times built a database on the prisoners in Guantánamo. Here's a brief look at who they are: 
 
 — Mullah Mohammad Fazl: Is thought to be 46 or 47 years old. According to documents from the Joint Task Force Guantánamo: 
 
 "Detainee aas the Taliban Deputy Minister of Defense during Operation Enduring Freedom and is an admitted senior commander who served as Chief of Staff of the Taliban Army and as a commander of the 22nd Division. Detainee is wanted by the UN for possible War crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiites. Detainee was associated with terrorist groups currently opposing US and Coalition forces." 
 
 — Mullah Norullah Noori: Is thought to be 46 or 47 years old. According to the documents: 
 
 "Detainee was a senior Taliban military commander in Mazar-e-Sharif during hostilities against US and Coalition forces in late 2001. Detainee was also the Taliban governor for the Balkh and Laghman provinces and is wanted by the United Nations (UN) for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims. Detainee is associated with Supreme Taliban Commander Mullah Muhammad Omar, other senior Taliban officials, senior al-Qaida members and other extremist organizations and has remained a significant figure to Taliban supporters. Detainee's brother is a Taliban." 
 
 — Muhammad Nabi: Is thought to be 45 or 46 years old. According to the documents, he was considered "high risk," "high threat," and of "high" "intelligence value." The documents add: 
 
 "Detainee was a senior Taliban official who served in multiple leadership roles. Detainee had strong operational ties to Anti-Coalition Militia (ACM) groups including al-Qaida, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin... Detainee was a member of a joint al-Qaida/ Taliban ACM cell in Khowst and was involved in attacks against US and Coalition forces. Detainee maintained weapons caches and facilitated the smuggling of fighters and weapons." 
 
 — Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa: Is thought to be 46 or 47 years old. According to the documents: 
 
 "Detainee was a senior Taliban official serving as the Minister of Interior, Governor of Herat, and a military commander. Detainee was directly associated to Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and Taliban Supreme Commander Mullah Muhammad Omar, and was added to the UN financial freeze list. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, detainee represented the Taliban during meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support hostilities against US and Coalition forces. Detainee also attended a meeting at the direction of UBL, reportedly accompanied by members of HAMAS. Detainee and his deputy were probably associated with a militant training camp in Herat operated by deceased al-Qaida commander (in Iraq) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Detainee was identified as a narcotics trafficker and probably used his position and influences to become one of the major opium drug lords in Western Afghanistan. Detainee probably used profits from drugs to promote Taliban interests in the area." 
 
 — Abdul Haq Wasiq: Is believed to be 42 or 43 years old. According to the documents: 

 U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was handed over May 31 by members of the Taliban. 
 
 U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. service member known to be held hostage in Afghanistan, was handed over Saturday morning by members of the Taliban in exchange for five Afghan detainees held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. officials said. 
 
 U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. service member known to be held hostage in Afghanistan, was handed over Saturday morning by members of the Taliban in exchange for five Afghan detainees held at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. officials said. 
 
 — They were among the Taliban’s most influential commanders — five men whom the United States succeeded in removing from the battlefield. 
 
 But on Saturday, they were released from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl — a deeply controversial decision that raised concerns in Kabul and Washington even as Bergdahl’s homecoming was celebrated. 
 
 One of the freed men was the head of the Taliban’s army. Another arranged for al-Qaeda trainers to visit Afghanistan. Another has been implicated by the United Nations for killing thousands of Shiite Muslims. 
 
 Although the five men have each been in prison for at least a decade, many believe they still have significant influence within the Taliban because of their contributions during the group’s formative years. The last time a high-level Taliban official was released from Guantanamo, in 2007, the detainee, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, returned to Afghanistan and took the reins as the organization’s director of military operations. 
 
 Like Zakir, the five detainees released Saturday and handed to the Qatari government had formal government jobs when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001. They will remain in Qatar for a year. Beyond that, it remains unclear whether they will be able to move to Pakistan or Afghanistan. 
 
 A Taliban statement on Saturday announced the release “with great happiness” and said the men would live with their families in Qatar. 
 
 The releases come at a pivotal moment in the Afghan war. The United States is concluding its combat mission, and the Afghan army is preparing to take on a powerful insurgency with far less assistance from the American military. The Taliban vowed as recently as last week that “jihad is incumbent and our nation will continue its righteous jihad.” 
 
 If they are permitted to return to Pakistan or Afghanistan, the five former detainees will likely play a crucial role in the Taliban’s next act. 
 
 Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, 47, was once the Taliban’s interior minister. He helped create the Taliban movement in 1994. He was a “hard-liner in his support of the Taliban philosophy” and “was known to have close ties to Osama bin Laden,” according to his Guantanamo case file, released by WikiLeaks. 
 
 Mullah Mohammad Fazl was a senior commander in the Taliban army in the 1990s, rising to become its chief of staff. He is thought by many to have supervised the killing of thousands of Shiite Muslims near Kabul between 1998 and 2001. According to WikiLeaks documents, he was also present at the 2001 prison riot that killed CIA operative Johnny Micheal Spann, the first U.S. citizen killed in the Afghan war. 
 
 Mullah Norullah Noori, another of the detainees, was also present during Spann’s killing. He was a provincial governor in several key areas during the Taliban regime. He is also suspected of involvement in the Shiite massacre. 
 
 Abdul Haq Wasiq, 43, was deputy chief of intelligence for the Taliban. According to his Guantanamo case file, he “utilized his office to support al Qaeda” and was “central to the Taliban’s effort to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups.” His case file, like Khairkhwa’s, calls him a “high risk,” saying that he is likely to “pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies.” 
 
 Mohammad Nabi Omari, 46, was a member of a joint al-Qaeda-Taliban cell in eastern Khost province, according to his case file, and “one of the most significant former Taliban leaders detained” at Guantanamo. He has ties to the Haqqani network, the group that was believed to be holding Bergdahl. 
 
 Over and over, each detainee received a “recommendation for continued detention” by a military board at Guantanamo. But Bergdahl’s kidnapping — and the prospect of a prisoner swap — meant those recommendations would have to be reassessed. 
 
 The Afghan government had long supported the idea of a prisoner release from Guantanamo, but with an eye toward reconciliation, not Bergdahl’s return. In 2011, President Hamid Karzai said of Khairkhwa, “We would talk to him, we would arrange his release.” 
 
 In 2012, Karzai said he sent a delegation of Afghan officials to Guantanamo, where they interviewed Afghan prisoners. He then became more strident in his demands, asking for the release of all Afghans held at the detention facility. 
 
 “We want the release of those Taliban figures, and we want them to have the freedom to settle where they want,” he said. 
 
 Karzai’s office could not be reached for comment Saturday, but it seems likely that his administration will be disappointed that the prisoner swap wasn’t attached to broad reconciliation efforts. Lower-ranking Taliban commanders, released from the Bagram prison by the Afghan government over the past year, have already returned to the battlefield, according to U.S. officials. 
 
 After Saturday’s release, 12 Afghans remain at Guantanamo. 
 
 Within hours of the White House’s statement about Bergdahl’s release, members of Congress began raising concerns about the detainees. 
 
 “These particular individuals are hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans and countless Afghans on their hands,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement. “I am eager to learn what precise steps are being taken to ensure that these vicious and violent Taliban extremists never return to the fight against the United States and our partners or engage in any activities that can threaten the prospects for peace and security in Afghanistan.” 
 
 Julie Tate in Washington and Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul contributed to this report.
– A fair exchange? The five Guantanamo Bay prisoners swapped for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl were all senior Taliban commanders who had been off the battlefield for at least a decade, the Washington Post reports. Analysts say they retain influence in the Taliban and may return to the group after spending a mandated year in Qatar. The last time America released a top Taliban official from Gitmo—Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, in 2007—he became the group's director of military operations in Afghanistan. NPR runs down details on the five released detainees: Mullah Mohammad Fazl: A senior Taliban commander wanted for allegedly killing thousands of Shiites near Kabul between 1998 and 2001. Mullah Norullah Noori: A senior Taliban military commander, he has governed two Afghan provinces and was wanted by the UN for war crimes. He "has remained a significant figure to Taliban supporters," according to an NPR/New York Times database of Gitmo prisoners. Mohammad Nabi Omari: A top Taliban official with "strong operational ties" to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and al-Qaeda. Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa: Also a top Taliban official, he was "directly associated" with Osama bin Laden and probably became an opium drug lord in Afghanistan to help fund the Taliban. Abdul Haq Wasiq: A former Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, he helped the organization forge alliances with other fundamentalist groups to battle the US and coalition forces after 9/11. See what the GOP says about the Bergdahl deal, and how Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defends it.