US Soldier Captured By Taliban

KABUL — An American soldier, who disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts, is believed captured, officials said Thursday.

Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier disappeared Tuesday.

"We understand him to be have been captured by militant forces. We have all available resources out there looking for him and hopefully providing for his safe return," Mathias said.

Mathias did not provide details on the soldier, the location where he was captured or the circumstances.

The news broke as thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan. The missing soldier was not part of that operation.

"We are not providing further details to protect the soldier's well-being," she said.

Afghan Police Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said the soldier went missing in the Mullakheil area of eastern Paktika province, where there is an American base.

The soldier was noticed missing during a routine check of the unit on Tuesday and was first listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown," a U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity.

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It wasn't until Thursday that officials said publicly that he was missing and described him as "believed captured." Details of such incidents are routinely held very tightly by the military as it works to retrieve a missing or captured soldier without giving away any information to captors.

Initial reports indicated that the soldier was off duty at the time he went missing, having just completed a shift, the official said on condition of anonymity because details are still sketchy.

The missing man is an enlisted soldier, and his family has been notified.

Two U.S. defense sources said the soldier "just walked off" post with three Afghan counterparts after he finished working. They said they had no explanation for why he left the base. He was assigned to a combat outpost, one of a number of smaller bases set up by foreign forces in Afghanistan, the officials said.

Zabiullah Mujaheed, a spokesman for the Taliban, could not confirm that the soldier was with any of their forces. A myriad of insurgent groups operate in eastern Afghanistan, and the Taliban is only one of them.

The most important insurgent group operating in that area is known as Haqqani network and is led by Siraj Haqqani, whom the U.S. has accused of masterminding beheadings and suicide bombings.

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Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.

Comments

[texassoldier]

I know a soldier in Afghanistan who is involved in the attempts to find this soldier. He told me that the guy has not been kidnapped and actually being considered an enemy of the state having gotten involved in some sort of group there in Afghanistan and going over to the other side. He did not know many other details

[ElsaIndy]

Oh my god. What a nightmare for the family. What is god's name are we doing in that godforsaken place....bring the troops home.

[pokemon]

OK, thats smart.. walk off base with 3 people who are not your fellow Americans.. and walk off base period.

I hope he will be alright, doubt it but hope. He either did it on purpose, or it shows some major complacency on his part. And in our line of work complacency kills.

[shthar]

I'm sure he'll be treated well and released once peace breaks out.

Unless they have some kind of permanent detention plan.

[Beelzebufo]

Really brilliant comment, shithar!

[mjtobes]

He must be scared but why would he just walk off base?

[jordanispalestine]

Now we get to see the end-game of Gitmo and Abu Gharib ( not sure of the spelling) take stage! The Taliban is not Al-Qaeda, who is smart enough to treat him well! He'll be lucky to live 48 hours!

[fbr79]

Right, before Gitmo and Abu Gharib the Taliban was so nice to everybody.

"The worst attack on civilians came in summer of 1998 when the Taliban swept north from Herat to the predominantly Hazara and Uzbek city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in the north. Entering at 10 am on 8 August 1998, for the next two days the Taliban drove their pickup trucks "up and down the narrow streets of Mazar-i-Sharif shooting to the left and right and killing everything that moved — shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers and even goats and donkeys."[69] More than 8000 noncombatants were reported killed in Mazar-i-Sharif and later in Bamiyan.[70] Contrary to the injunctions of Islam, which demands immediate burial, the Taliban forbade anyone to bury the corpses for the first six days while they rotted in the summer heat and were eaten by dogs.[71] In addition to this indiscriminate slaughter, the Taliban sought out and massacred members of the Hazara, a mostly Shia ethnic group, while in control of Mazar-i-Sharif."

[vinny]

hopefully, Obama won''t bomb another village

[1dogs2]

Here's hoping the captors haven't heard about how the US treats people it captures in Afghanistan.

[gbrooks]

Here's to hoping that his captors use this opportunity to make the US look really, really bad by being good to him and sending a message to the media that they don't torture.

[PWM]

That would play in their hands.

[fbr79]

Please, you civilians are so clueless about what happens in these areas. Do you know how these warlords treat the people they "rule"? After any skirmish in Afghanistan we provide medical aid to injured to both sides, everytime we enter a new village we attempt to establish a dialogue with the local elders and provide them with any medical/logistic supplies they need. The Afghanis we come in contact probably have a better opinion of the US than you.

[Camm s]

Yes Sir so very true!

[MarcusT]

Ah yes, the hearts and minds pitch. Used the same failed strategy in Nam-come in, do some hand shaking, medical help, promise the world and leave. War lord comes back in and beheads the village elders for enabling American propaganda. Some of us civilians might consider it both irresponsible and hypocritical.