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Bowe Bergdahl set to meet with Army investigator

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By Steve Almasy and Nick Valencia

CNN

(CNN) — Former Taliban prisoner Bowe Bergdahl will meet Wednesday with an Army general leading the investigation into the sergeant’s disappearance five years ago, his lawyer said.

Attorney Eugene Fidell wouldn’t characterize the upcoming session as an interrogation.

He called it an interview and said he assumed it would be “people sitting around a conference table.”

Bergdahl’s team spent Tuesday meeting and reviewing documents, some classified.

“I think tomorrow will be an interesting and productive day,” Fidell said.

Bergdahl has met once before, briefly, with Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dahl, the point person for the Army’s investigation.

After he disappeared in Afghanistan in June 2009, the now 28-year-old soldier spent five years in the hands of Taliban militants.

After he was released in May in exchange for five senior Taliban members held by the U.S. military, Bergdahl underwent counseling and medical care at a hospital in San Antonio, where he is back on regular duty at Fort Sam Houston.

The news of Bergdahl’s freedom initially was met with jubilation, but the mood quickly turned as many called for an investigation into his disappearance and captivity. Some critics accused the soldier of deserting his comrades in war.

An Army fact-finding investigation conducted in the months after his disappearance concluded he left his outpost deliberately and of his own free will, according to an official who was briefed on the report.

The Army has no definitive finding that Bergdahl deserted because that would require knowing his intent, something officials couldn’t learn without talking to the soldier, a U.S. military official recently told CNN.

Bergdahl works at the headquarters of U.S. Army North in Texas. He is with a unit responsible for homeland defense, civil support operations and security cooperation programs involving countries such as Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.

He will eventually be given a position commensurate with his rank of sergeant, the Army said last month.

Bergdahl was a private first class when he was captured, and the Army extended his enlistment and twice promoted him on schedule while he was in captivity.

CNN’s Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

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