Hagel: US acted fast to save Bowe Bergdahl's life - CNN

• NEW: Bowe Bergdahl has not spoken with his parents yet, Defense official says


• The Army sergeant arrives at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany


• Defense secretary: "Bergdahl's safety and health were both in jeopardy"


• Five Taliban detainees are being sent from Guantanamo to Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl

(CNN) -- The United States found "an opening" and acted quickly to save U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's life, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Sunday.



"We believed that the information we had, the intelligence we had, was such that Sgt. Bergdahl's safety and health were both in jeopardy and in particular his health deteriorating," Hagel said. "It was our judgment that if we could find an opening and move very quickly with that opening, that we needed to get him out of there essentially to save his life. I know President Obama feels very strongly about that, I do as well."



Bergdahl, the last American soldier held captive from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, is on a long journey home after being freed Saturday in a prisoner exchange.



He arrived Sunday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a U.S. Defense official said.



There was no word on Bergdahl's condition. A senior U.S. Defense official said the soldier hadn't spoken with his parents yet.



The 28-year-old Idaho native, who spent five years in the hands of Afghan militants, was expected to undergo medical treatment and be debriefed at Landstuhl, a massive facility that treats serious war injuries from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.



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Bergen: 'It's been a long time coming'

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This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held by insurgents in Afghanistan since 2009. The White House announced on Saturday, May 31, that Bergdahl was being released.



An Iranian court threw out a 2011 death sentence for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he was secretly retried in Iran and convicted of "practical collaboration with the U.S. government," his sister told CNN on Friday, April 11. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, she said. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother. His family and the Obama administration deny accusations he was spying for the CIA.



A North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence in May. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November 2012. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN.



Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority.



Warren Weinstein, a contractor held by al Qaeda militants, is a U.S. citizen who has been held hostage in Pakistan since August 2011.



U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport Saturday, December 7, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained October 26 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman says the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.



Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, on May 22, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released on Friday, May 31, and is back in the United States.



Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013, accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches.



North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.



Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.



Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.



Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.



Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.



Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.



Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release.



Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial.



Freelance reporter James Foley went missing in November 2012 after his car was stopped by gunmen in Syria. He is likely being held by the Syrian government, according to the GlobalPost, an online international news outlet to which he contributed, and Foley's brother.



Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June.





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Photos: Americans detained abroad





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Bergen: 'It's been a long time coming'

His "reintegration process" will include "time for him to tell his story, decompress, and to reconnect with his family through telephone calls and video conferences," a senior Defense official said.



Bergdahl will likely go to Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio when he is ready to leave Landstuhl. It's unclear if his parents will see Bergdahl first in Germany or Texas, a Defense official said.



U.S. special operations forces recovered Bergdahl without incident early Saturday local time at a "pickup" point in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, a senior Department of Defense official told CNN. American officials said the government of Qatar brokered the deal, in which five Guantanamo detainees were swapped for Bergdahl.



Obama, flanked by Bergdahl's parents at the White House on Saturday, praised the diplomatic officials and troops who helped secure Bergdahl's release.



"While Bowe was gone, he was never forgotten," the President said.



Bergdahl's mother, Jani, said, "We will continue to stay strong for Bowe while he recovers."



His father, Bob Bergdahl, spoke a few phrases in Pashtun, saying that his son is having trouble speaking English after his captivity in Afghanistan, according to a military press service.



"The complicated nature of this recovery will never really be comprehended," his father said.



A senior Defense official confirmed Bowe Bergdahl is having trouble speaking English but the reasons for that were not clear, given the trauma he's been through.



Also unclear is how Bergdahl fell into the hands of the Afghan militants. When a reporter asked if Bergdahl had deserted, Hagel didn't answer directly.



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New hope for U.S. soldier held captive

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Bergen: 'It's been a long time coming'

"Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family," he said. "Other circumstances that may develop, they will be dealt with later."



Hagel said he hoped to speak personally with Bergdahl.



'Our only son'



The U.S. government secured Bergdahl's freedom in exchange for the release to the Taliban of five of its members detained at Guantanamo Bay.



After Bergdahl was handed over, a series of secret procedures was set in motion so each side knew the other was living up to the bargain. Qatari officials were already at Guantanamo and took custody of the detainees.



A U.S. Air Force aircraft carrying them left the U.S. Navy base in Cuba on Saturday afternoon, a senior Defense official told CNN. The United States has "appropriate assurances" that Qatar will be able to secure the detainees there, where they are under a travel ban for a year.



The Afghan Taliban issued a statement on its website in Arabic and Pashtun announcing with "great happiness and joy" the exchange of Bergdahl for five of its imprisoned senior leaders.



Bergdahl's parents issued a statement thanking the Emir of Qatar, the U.S. government and the former captive's supporters.



"We were so joyful and relieved when President Obama called us today to give us the news that Bowe is finally coming home! We cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son."



The operation was so secretive that Afghan President Hamid Karzai was left out of the loop.



"Secretary (of State John) Kerry did inform President Karzai after the fact," Hagel said.



Hagel was asked if this prisoner exchange could lead to more breakthroughs with the Taliban. Getting Bergdahl out of captivity was the first concern, he said.



"Whether that could lead to possible new breakthroughs with the Taliban, I don't know. Hopefully it might," he said. "But we pursued this effort specifically to get Sgt. Bergdahl back."



The journey home



Bergdahl was first transferred to Bagram Airfield, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, for initial medical evaluation, before boarding a plane for Landstuhl, the largest American hospital outside the United States.



With more than 110 physicians and 250 nurses, the hospital has been the primary treatment center for soldiers hurt during Operations Desert Shield and Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom, <a href="http://ift.tt/1oKpRKv; target="_blank">the Army website said.



The hospital has also treated nonmilitary personnel, such as hundreds of Bosnian refugees injured in a 1994 bombing and Americans and Kenyans hurt in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. In 2006, ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were taken the Landstuhl hospital after being wounded by a bomb in Iraq.



Held by warlord



Bergdahl was deployed to Afghanistan in May 2009. He was 23 and a private at the time of his capture, which happened after he finished a guard shift at a combat outpost on June 30, 2009, in Paktika province.



He was believed to be held by operatives from the Haqqani network, an insurgent force led by warlord Siraj Haqqani, who has a reputation for holding positions that are extreme even by Taliban standards.



The network is affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda, and it was not always clear whether Haqqani operatives would abide by any agreement among the United States, Qatar and the Taliban.



An Afghan Taliban commander not authorized to speak to the media confirmed to CNN that Bergdahl was captured by insurgents with links to the Haqqani network in Pakistan. Over the years, the captive was transferred back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan.



Fast Facts: Bowe Bergdahl



Critics question the negotiations



The United States has long declared that it won't negotiate with groups linked to terrorists, but analysts have said the United States has effectively maneuvered around the edges of that declaration over the years.



"As the administration has repeatedly affirmed, we will not transfer any detainee from Guantanamo unless the threat the detainee may pose to the United States can be sufficiently mitigated and only when consistent with our humane treatment policy," a senior administration official told CNN, adding that the detainees will be "subject to restrictions on their movement and activities."



Many of the released Guantanamo detainees held political positions in the Taliban government that fell in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001.



But Sen. John McCain, a former POW, called the released detainees "hardened terrorists who have the blood of Americans and countless Afghans on their hands." He demanded to know exactly what steps are being taken to guarantee that they never fight against the United States again.



CNN's Victoria Eastwood in Germany, Sophia Saifi in Islamabad, journalist Zahir Shah Sherazi in Peshawar and , Erin McPike, Elise Labott and Ed Lavendara contributed to this report.

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