Posts

Post

Listening Guide

If you're new to Season Two of Serial, or if you're listening again, here's a guide to the maps, videos, graphics, and documents that accompany each episode. ... Read More

Post

How the Art Comes Together

All art and animations by Carl Burton

A behind-the-scenes look at how artist Carl Burton visualized a season. ... Read More

News Archive

Richard Holbrooke, the Diplomat

In diplomatic circles, Richard Holbrooke was a legend. In addition to being SRAP (special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan) and pushing for peace talks with the Taliban, he negotiated the Dayton Accords in 1995, which brought an end to the Bosnian War. ... Read More

News Archive

The Guardian Photos

Blackfoot Company at OP Mest. Bergdahl is on the right.

Sean Smith/The Guardian

In May 2009, Sean Smith, a photographer and filmmaker from the Guardian, embedded with the U.S. Army in eastern Afghanistan. Ken Wolfe, command sergeant major of the First Battalion of the 501st Infantry, told Sarah that he dropped Smith off at OP Mest and then continued south to a command center in Kushamond. A while later, Wolfe’s first sergeant pulled Smith’s photos up on the Guardian’s website. Wolfe says that when he saw the photos he lost his mind. ... Read More

News Archive

David Rohde’s Captivity

David Rohde, center, in Kandahar, a province in southern Afghanistan, in 2007.

Tomas Munita/The New York Times/Redux

There were many similarities between Rohde’s captivity and Bergdahl’s. The Haqqani network, a group aligned with the Taliban, held both men captive, for one. And both men were moved to various locations in North and South Waziristan, parts of the tribal region of Pakistan. But Rohde had two advantages over Bergdahl. ... Read More

Post

A Photo, After the Escape

Bergdahl said this photo was taken at the end of his first year, just after he had escaped for close to nine days and was recaptured. Once the men found Bergdahl, they took him back to the compound where they were keeping him. They later cleaned him up and took him to see Mullah Sangeen Zadran, who made it clear he would kill him if he tried to escape again.

Bergdahl says this photo was taken right after that meeting with Sangeen.  ... Read More

Post

The Army's Search for Bergdahl

In 2010, WikiLeaks published a six-year archive of classified U.S. military documents. These intelligence and incident reports, which revealed information on such things as drone warfare and the Taliban’s use of missiles,also illustrated the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. This includes military communications from June 30, the day Bergdahl walked off his outpost, as well as the next several days of the search for him.

WikiLeaks War Diaries

Read through the full version of the war diaries here to get a sense of those initial days.

Here are some highlights. ... Read More

Post

Delete. Delete.

As details of Bowe Bergdahl’s release and capture surfaced, people suddenly seemed unsure how they were supposed to feel about the whole thing. You can see evidence of the public confusion on Twitter.  ... Read More

Post

An Active Case—Bowe Bergdahl’s Legal Situation

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his lawyer Eugene Fidell watched as Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl was questioned during the Article 32 hearing on Sept. 18.

Associated Press/Brigitte Woosley

The army announced today that it is referring Bowe Bergdahl’s case to a general court-martial, the military’s version of a felony criminal trial. ... Read More

Post

Welcome

Hello, everyone. We’re back. Yes, at last! We’ve launched Season Two. ... Read More

Post

The Plan

Bowe Bergdahl said he wanted to leave his outpost, OP Mest, at night and run—or at least walk—to his base at FOB Sharana. As Sarah said in Episode 01, this plan is technically feasible. The distance is about 20 miles. He figured he’d make it there in 24 hours or so. At the time, Bergdahl was a good runner, and he was used to high altitudes from growing up in Idaho.

But we were curious about what this walk would be like. What obstacles would someone face? ... Read More

Follow Serial