US Soldier Captured and Sold in Afghanistan to Taliban's Haqqani

by Amy Judd | July 2, 2009 at 08:27 am

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A U.S soldier, private first class, is believed to have been captured in Afghanistan as almost 4,000 U.S Marines launched an operation in the Helmand Province to take control of Taliban strongholds. CNN is reporting that he was sold by low level Afghani soldiers to the Taliban's Haqqani faction.

The identity of the soldier is not known, but this would be the first time militants have abducted an American soldier since 2001, when U.S troops entered the country.

"A US soldier who has been missing since June 30 from his assigned unit is believed to have been captured by militant forces," US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP.

Mathias said that this was the first time an American soldier had been captured in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"We are using all of our available resources to find him and provide for his safe return. We are not providing further details to protect the soldier's situation and well-being," she said.

The U.S Military have offered a $25,000 reward to any Afghan national with information on the whereabouts of the soldier.

According to the AFP, a commander from the Taliban's Haqqani faction said that his militia had captured the soldier and three Afghans with him in Paktika, which borders Pakistan.

"One of our commanders named Mawlawi Sangin has captured a coalition soldier along with his three Afghan guards in Yousuf Khail district of Paktika province," the commander, named only Bahram, told AFP.

"The coalition soldier has been taken to a safe place," he said.

They will most likely issue release demands, but the commander said they have not decided on the fate of the U.S man. The demands will be made in the form of video tapes.

Maulvi Sangin, who claims to speak for the Taliban in the province, said that the U.S. soldier was seized when he and the others were on their way to the Yousafkhel security checkpost, and took them to a secret location, according to an Afghan news Web site. Sangin claimed the abducted soldiers were drunk when captured by the Taliban.

U.S. officials could not confirm that these claims are true, and not Taliban propganda.

It is thought that the soldier was caught outside his base camp, but was only reported missing when he didn't come back on for duty on June 30th. Some of his fellow soldiers went to his quarters looking for him and found his rifle but his journal was missing.

Soldiers at the base beleive he may have walked off base, though a senior military officer told McClatchy security video didn't capture his departure. Hours later, U.S. military officials received a phone call saying that the soldier had been kidnapped outside of the base, a senior military official told McClatchy. It's not clear whether any demands were made.

He was captured before the military offensive began.

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 walked off the base on his own with no means of defending himself and some reports are saying that he was drunk, but this is being denied by sources within the U.S Military.

Regardless of how he disappeared, he is thought he is now being held by a dangerous group of people.

The US military has described the Al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network as one of the "most lethal Taliban organisations".

They operate mainly out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area, and are thought to be behind several attacks in Kabul and the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai last year.

Some other hostages have escaped from the Taliban in the past: American reporter Nir Rosen was embedded with them for a while and New York Times reporter David Rhode escapaed from their custody about two weeks ago.

However, retreiving a captive from the Taliban can be a difficult and dangerous process.

Hopefully this will not turn out like the May 2007 and June 2006 Iraq War abductions. What is troublesome is why an american soldier on his own will left the base without taking his service rifle and without other Americans. According to one Defense Department official, his actions have been described as "He was not of sound mind when he did what he did. Not smart,"

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US Soldier Captured and Sold in Afghanistan to Taliban's Haqqani

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