It was the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar that helped the U.S. negotiate with the Taliban the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
Held by the Taliban in Afghanistan for nearly five years, until Saturday.
Qatar helped negotiate a prisoner swap.
Bergdahl's freedom…for handing over to Qatar five high-risk Taliban detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba.
Among them...Mohammed Fazl, a senior Taliban commander;
Allegedly responsible for the killing of thousands of minority Shi'ite Muslims in Afghanistan.
The five men were flown to Qatar on a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane.
Their families were reportedly flown in from Afghanistan.
As part of the transfer deal, the men's activities in Qatar will be monitored.
They face a minimum one-year ban from travel.
But critics worry the senior Taliban figures could rejoin the insurgency when restrictions are eventually lifted.
SOUNDBITE: SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ) SAYING:
"These are the harde
