Haqqani: Terrorist designation may bring "hardships" for U.S. POW Bowe Bergdahl

This image from a video released by a Taliban affiliated group Nov. 24, 2010, shows captive U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl alongside his suspected captor, Mullah Sangeen Zadran.

/ CBS

(CBS News) An American prisoner of war's captors reportedly said that the United States designating them as terrorists Friday would bring "hardships" to the U.S. soldier.

Senior commanders of the Haqqani network made the comments about Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to the Reuters news agency after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed the paperwork officially classifying the group as a foreign terrorist organization.

Special Section: Afghanistan, The Way Forward
U.S. labeling Haqqani network a terror group
WorldWatch blog: The story of Jalaladin Haqqani

"Until now we treated him very well but this move by the United States will of course created (sic) hardships for him," one commander told Reuters.

Bergdahl was captured in eastern Afghanistan in June 2009 by the Pakistan-based group. Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last spring that the military was doing "everything in our power" to find Bergdahl.

(Below, watch a 2009 "CBS Evening News" report on Bergdahl's capture)

Bowe Bergdahl: Prisoner of war, politics and diplomacy

Those efforts have reportedly included negotiating a swap of Taliban fighters in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for Bergdahl, his parents said earlier this year.

Clinton signed a report to Congress in Brunei Friday morning saying that the Haqqani met the statutory criteria to be designated a foreign terrorist organization, according to a senior State Department official. The designation makes it a crime to provide material support to the group and may lead to other nations and the Treasury Department taking action to cut off the group from its funding sources.

Bergdahl remains the sole American POW from the war in Afghanistan, a war with which he was reportedly disgusted. A Rolling Stone article published last spring cited emails Bergdahl sent to his parents, including one in which he said he was "ashamed to even be American."

[ScottyKu]

Just when the american people are tiring of the endless Al Qaida terror theatre, along comes.........the envelope please......The Haqqani Network!!!! Be afraid. Be very afraid, because paranoia is patriotic!
Geez. We sure have a lot of enemies, compared to ...say...Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Canada, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and on and on.

[fredm6900]

I'm wondering how these thugs get weapons and munitions. Are they US or Russia made? Who are the suppliers, how they reach them, how they trade, how they pay for. Can we do nothing to cut these supplies off? What about food, money? Cut them all off and maybe it will be the end of the story. We cannot kill them all. If we do, another similar group will emerge. We cannot be there forever taking care of that. Those thugs are too way brainwashed to change. The best way seems to be to disperse them by cutting off what keep them together.

[HM8432]

He should of thought of that before he strolled off his base the way he did. When I was over there with the Marines, we were not allowed to go anywhere alone or unarmed. I guess the Army does things a little differently.

[formerlyluvnut]

I wondered how long it would take for this to happen. The only acceptable response by the USA is the total and complete annihilation of these neanderthals. Swift and absolute. Simple as that.

[glaxovont]

They wont negotiate for his release so he is dead meat. USA is stupid.