Bowe Robert Bergdahl: Taliban Released a Video of Captured US Soldier
- Taliban Released a Video of Captured US Soldier Bowe Robert Bergdahl
The Taliban has released a video purport to show US soldier Bowe Robert Bergdahl who was captured in Afghanistan almost six months ago.
The video is reportedly titled “One of Their People Testified.” Bergdahl was captured by the Haqqani Network on June 30 after leaving his small combat outpost in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika.
The Haqqani Network is the most lethal of the Taliban groups operating in Afghanistan.
The man in the video appears healthy and speaks calmly and clearly, and does not appear to be under duress, the AP news agency said.
It could not be confirmed immediately that it was Bergdahl in the new video, which was released to The Associated Press and other news organizations. But a terrorist monitoring group said there was no reason not to think Bergdahl was the man in the video.
“Initial analysis indicates the hostage appearing in the video is Bowe Bergdahl,” said the IntelCenter, a U.S. contractor that tracks terrorist propaganda and works with the intelligence community and the military.
The man is shown seated, facing the camera, wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a U.S. military helmet and uniform. A caption below the man speaking says: “War prisoner: Bowe Robert Bergdahl.”
Pte Bergdahl, a 23-year-old US airborne infantryman, was captured by the Afghan Taliban in Paktika province on 30 June.
On one side of the image, it says: “An American soldier imprisoned by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
A statement read by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, appears at the end of the video and renews demands for a “limited number of prisoners” to be exchanged for Bergdahl. The statement says that more American troops could be captured.
A spokesman for the hardline Islamist group said it was demanding the release of prisoners from US detention centres in exchange for Bergdahl’s freedom.
“We are ready to release him in exchange for the release of our prisoners but the Americans are not ready to release our prisoners in exchange for their soldier,” a Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, said.
