2nd guessing is a luxury Ford, Reagan and Obama didn't have. American hostages and POWs were being raped, beaten, and tortured every day. Sex acts are forced in public by hundreds of guards. If you were in Ford's, Reagan's, or Obama's shoes it would be hard not to trade.
Reagan sucked. Literally. Reagan moved to Hollywoood and sucked the poles of old farts to get B-movie roles.
In all 61 replies nobody has pointed out that the United States is not holding any "prisoners of war," they are holding what they claim are "enemy combatants," a made-up classification unknown to international law.
If they could be tried and convicted for anything, they would have by now. The US has been imprisoning them indefinitely with no legal basis, so they are a liability that will have to be released eventually no matter what. Better to release them in exchange for a deserter than in exchange for nothing at all.
If they were classified as POW's, they would be released soon anyway because the US is leaving Afghanistan. When a war ends, exchange of all POW's is traditionally negotiated. Maybe you wish the Taliban had taken more prisoners so the US would be getting a better deal?
As for trading for the return of deserters, you all show even more ignorance. Armies swap for deserters so they can punish them and deter future desertion. Even if they don't charge Bergdahl, they will use his story of capture and imprisonment to scare others out of walking away.