Taliban Claims to Have American Soldier Captive

Alarming news emerges this morning on the Taliban website, according to officials, the Taliban is claiming to have captured a missing U.S. soldier five days ago. This may be the same American soldier that U.S. authorities have said may have been kidnapped.

While the Taliban website offers no proof of their claim, they report that they had "arrested a drunken American soldier" five days ago." They say that the soldier is "still in their custody but would not elaborate on his whereabouts or their plans for him." If the news is true, this may be the very first American soldier to have been captured by the Taliban forces in Afghanistan, in an eight year time period.

According to the Miami Herald, the soldier is a private first class who has been based in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. It was first noticed that he was missing when he didn't show up for formation on Tuesday morning. When his fellow soldiers went to retrieve him they found his weapon, but his personal journal was missing. A few hours later, U.S. officials received the call that the soldier had been kidnapped outside the military base.

The U.S. military also reports that they had "intercepted communications in which insurgents talked about holding an American" soldier hostage. The Private first class' fellow soldiers believe that he may have walked off the base alone, although no one saw him leave. U.S. Military officials report that, "they knew of no reason a soldier based in eastern Afghanistan would leave his base alone, especially with no one knowing in advance. Troops generally leave the base in groups and with the knowledge of their commanders." But, the fact remains the Private is missing, and the Taliban claim they have him captive.

Unfortunately, this is not the only bad news coming out of Afghanistan today. A U.S. military spokesman is also saying that two additional American troops have been killed in a blast in Southern Afghanistan. This brings the total U.S. troops killed on Monday in Afghanistan to six. According to the Associated Press, "Navy Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo says all six American troops were killed in two roadside bomb attacks. Four American soldiers were killed in the north of the country. They were involved in the training of the Afghan security forces."

References:

Taliban Says It Captured U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan at: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530203,00.html.

Retrieved from the world wide web on 7/6/09.

U.S. Soldier Captured by Taliban May have Left Base Alone at:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1125052.html. Retrieved from the world wide web on 7/6/09.