The White house has said there is not regret on swapping of Taliban fighters in exchange of an American soldier and efforts to monitor them have been "updated" because of concerns that they be seeking to return to the battlefield.
"Of course not," the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday when asked if the Obama Administration had any regret on the swapping of Taliban prisoners.
The five prisoners have been in Qatar since being released last year in exchange for Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl.
Media reports had said that one of the five Taliban fighters traded last year for Sgt Bowe Bergdahl is attempting to contact the Taliban once again.
"None of these individuals (five Taliban fighters) has returned to the battlefield, none of them is allowed to travel outside of Qatar, and none has engaged in physical violence," Earnest said.
"In fact, each of them at this point is still in Qatar, and each of them is subject to monitoring and other mitigation measures that limit their activities," he added.
"We are regularly in touch with the Qataris about those mitigation efforts, and in light of the concerns that you have raised, I can tell you that those mitigation efforts and those monitoring efforts have been updated to reflect those concerns," Earnest said.
"Because of the cooperation we've gotten from the Qataris and because of the conversations that they've had with our national security team here in the administration that we continue to have confidence that there are measures to place to substantially mitigate the threat that they pose to American national security," he added.
Meanwhile, The Pentagon at a separate news conference echoed the White House.
"We remain confident, as we were when we sent them there, that the assurances we received are sufficient enough to help us mitigate any future threat that these individuals might pose," the Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby, told reporters.
"It was because of the process we have in place and the strong relationship that we have with the government of Qatar, that we were able to identify this particular activity. And I can assure you that steps are being taken to mitigate any activity in the future," he said.
Earnest said the success of those mitigation measures depends on the cooperation of the Qatari government.
"I'm pleased to report that we've gotten good cooperation. There is good coordination between the United States and the Qatari government about these measures that need to be implemented", he said.
"The fact that we are updating them to reflect some of these concerns, I think is evidence that we have a system in place that is protecting American national security right now," he added.
