After Begg's release, Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman, said of Begg: "He has strong, long-term ties to terrorism — as a sympathizer, as a recruiter, as a financier and as a combatant". Whitman quoted from a single-spaced eight-page confession that Begg had signed while incarcerated in Bagram: "I was armed and prepared to fight alongside the Taliban and al-Qaeda against the U.S. and others, and eventually retreated to Tora Bora to flee from U.S. forces when our front lines collapsed".