Video footage shows the release of US sergeant Bowe Bergdah (R)al-Emara
The Taliban have released video footage showing the moment they handed over US sergeant Bowe Bergdah to American special forces in Afghanistan.
The video shows Bergdah sitting in a pickup truck parked on a hillside in eastern Afghanistan's Khost province, as a dozen Taliban fighters with machine guns stand around the vehicle, one holding a white flag.
Wearing a traditional Afghan white tunic, the hostage sergeant is seen blinking frequently as he watches and listens to his captors.
Surveillance aircrafts fly overhead. Then a Black Hawk helicopter lands metres from the hillside where Bergdah is now standing in front of the Toyota 4x4.
The 28-year-old is escorted half-way to the helicopter by his captors and is greeted by three Western-looking men in civilian clothing.
The three escort Bergdah to the aircraft where soldiers in army uniforms are waiting.
A caption on the video posted on Islamist websites read: "Don't come back to Afghanistan!"
The sergeant had gone missing in unknown circumstances in Afghanistan in June 2009.
The Taliban released him last week in exchange for five Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The prisoner swap has sparked controversy in the US, as Republicans warned it could put lives of Americans abroad at risk.
The US army are also said to be preparing a full high-level inquiry into the circumstances under which Bergdahl disappeared, after soldiers in his former squad claimed he deserted and six colleagues died in the subsequent search effort.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, general Martin Dempsey, has said that the US army will not ignore any potential misconduct by Bergdahl.
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