Bridging issue while using AFNetworking with Pods in a Swift Project

I know the pain... I ran into the same issues trying to get AFN working in a Playground. I was not successful in that endeavor. But it did work in the project and I learned a few things along the way.

First, I configure the bridging header in my Project's build settings (as you have done) and import AFN like this:

#import <AFNetworking/AFNetworking.h>

Second, I set the Pods Project build setting "Defines Module" to Yes.

Then I executed a plain build (Product -> Build or Option+B) to see if it took. Then I launched the Simulator.