BACK TO THE FIGHT? Official: Ex-Gitmo prisoner reaching out to Taliban

Published January 29, 2015

One of the five Taliban fighters traded last year for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is trying to make contact with the Taliban once again, Fox News has learned.

A U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the former Guantanamo prisoner has been intercepted making telephone calls to the Taliban.

The development comes amid rising concerns over former Guantanamo detainees returning to the battlefield, and over the nature of the Bergdahl-Taliban trade itself last year, which was negotiated with the involvement of the Qatari government.

Despite the apparent outreach by one of the traded prisoners, all five of the so-called “Taliban 5” are still accounted for in Qatar, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News.

"There are no indications that they are a risk right now,” another defense official said.

CNN first reported that one of the former detainees has tried to return to militant activity. According to CNN, this has touched off a debate in the Obama administration about whether this individual, who was not identified, and even the other four pose a new threat.

The development is already reverberating on Capitol Hill.

“I am extremely disturbed by a report that one of the Taliban 5 is suspected of re-engaging in terrorist activities,” Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who wants to suspend the transfer of high-risk detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, said in a statement Thursday. “This report highlights the danger of the administration’s irresponsible decision to transfer the Taliban 5, and underscores yet again the serious risks posed by the misguided effort to empty Guantanamo in order to close it.”

Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said he would not address specific cases.

“However,” he said, “we take any incidence of re-engagement very seriously, and we work in close coordination through military, intelligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic channels to mitigate re-engagement and to take follow-on action when necessary.

"The Defense Department has a close security partnership with the Government of Qatar; we're confident in our ability to continue to mitigate any threat that may be posed by the former Guantanamo detainees."

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.