It was another day in nearly five years of captivity for U.S. Army Sgt . Bowe Bergdahl , and he did n't know what the 18 Taliban fighters had in store for him Saturday . There , in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border , the heavily armed fighters turned Bergdahl over to U.S. military commandos . The soldier 's plight had come to an end . Within minutes he was airborne . The helicopter 's rotors whooped so loudly that Bergdahl could n't communicate clearly with the men on board . So he grabbed a paper plate and wrote three characters : `` SF ? '' The men understood : Special Forces ? The U.S. commandos did n't bother to write back . `` Yes ! '' shouted at least one over the roar of the flight . `` We 've been looking for you for a long time ! '' Captivity . The long road to freedom began for Bergdahl with his capture on June 30 , 2009 , in Afghanistan 's Paktika province , where he was deployed with the 25th Infantry Division . The soldier disappeared after finishing a guard shift at a combat outpost . It was about 4:30 a.m. when he was first reported missing , and by 7 a.m. his comrades began an all-out search to find him , according to secret military reports made public by WikiLeaks in 2010 . But there was no sign of the soldier . According to the reports , radio conversations between suspected militants picked up by U.S. reconnaissance aircraft confirmed he had been captured . Conflicting details have since emerged about how the militants managed to capture Bergdahl . Published accounts have varied widely , from claims he walked off the post to another that he was grabbed from a latrine . U.S. officials believe he was captured by the Taliban , but may have been held by the Haqqani Network , a terror group that operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border . The group is aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda . In the ensuing years , there were occasional video clips released by his captors . The so-called proof-of-life videos appeared to show the soldier gaunt and disheveled . Over time , he appeared with a beard . The U.S. government acknowledged in May 2012 that it had been engaged in direct talks with the Taliban to free Bergdahl . The Taliban , according to officials , broke off those talks . For more than year , there was no word of the soldier . Road to freedom . Then , in November 2013 , the Taliban signaled it was prepared to talk , according to senior administration officials . In return , the United States asked for proof of life , they said . That proof came in December in the form of a video of Bergdahl , the first in three years . And it showed the effects years of captivity had on the soldier , who appeared haggard and unwell . With neither U.S. officials or the Taliban trusting each other , Qatari officials took on the role of intermediary . The negotiations began in earnest last week , with Qatar ferrying messages back and forth between U.S. officials and the Taliban . It culminated in Doha , with the agreement that called for the handover of Bergdahl in exchange for five detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , the administration officials said . As Taliban fighters headed with Bergdahl toward an agreed upon meeting point in Afghanistan , on the other side of the world Qataris officials were waiting for the five detainees to be released . According to senior administration officials , the Qatari officials met the detainees on a runway at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . How the Qataris signaled to the Taliban that the detainees were in the custody is unclear , and administration officials have not detailed the communications . Flight to freedom . It was late afternoon Saturday in Afghanistan , about 10:30 a.m . ET , when Bergdahl surrounded by 18 Taliban fighters was led to a meeting point . There , waiting , were U.S. commandos , according to the officials . In the air above , helicopter gunships circled . Slowly , Bergdahl walked toward the commandos . It is believed the soldier was searched by the commandos , who as a matter of protocol would check to make sure the Taliban had not strapped explosives on him . Within a matter of minutes , Bergdahl was aboard a helicopter bound for Bagram Air Base . On the helicopter , with the knowledge he was in the hands of Special Forces , Bergdahl broke down and cried . He was free .
Army Sgt . Bowe Bergdahl writes on a paper plate because the helicopter is too loud . `` SF ? '' he writes to the crew in a shorthand for `` Special Forces ? '' `` Yes , '' at least one tells him , `` we 've been looking for you for a long time ! '' The pilot of the Chinook has just landed and is about to take off when an American soldier comes running up behind him.