Taliban Five

The Taliban Five were long-term Afghan detainees at Guantanamo Bay and formerly high-ranking members of the Taliban government of Afghanistan who, after being held indefinitely without charges, were exchanged for United States Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl. For several years there were rumors that the Obama Presidency's negotiations with the Taliban hinged over the release of these men. The Taliban wanted the men to be sent to Qatar. The United States was reported to be considering freeing them, if the Taliban would release Bowe Bergdahl, a soldier the Taliban had been holding since 2009. The Taliban Five were released to custody in Doha, Qatar on June 1, 2014.

The Taliban Five are described as "the hardest of the hard-core" by John McCain and James Franklin Jeffrey. All five are deemed "high" risk to the United States and were recommended for "continued detention".This reverses a position McCain held only four months earlier. McCain said his stance has changed only because the previous proposal was to release five “hard-core” Taliban leaders as a “confidence-building measure.” The current proposal would be an actual exchange of prisoners. “I would be inclined to support such a thing, depending on a lot of details,” he said.