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Source: Reuters -
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A Taliban commander in south-eastern Afghanistan said that a
missing US soldier was being held unharmed by insurgents, but
warned he would be killed if efforts were made to find him.
The soldier has been missing in Paktika province since late June,
just before thousands of US Marines began a major new
offensive.
The US military has said he was presumed captured.
Taliban commander Mawlavi Sangin said the group's leadership
council would decide the soldier's fate, but he accused the US
military of harassing and arresting Afghans in Paktika and
neighbouring Ghazni province.
"They have put pressure on the people in these two provinces and if
that does not stop we will kill him," Sangin, the Taliban commander
for Paktika province, said from an undisclosed area.
Sangin said the soldier was captured in an area bordering Pakistan
and gave some brief background detail about him, including his
age.
The Taliban have vowed to drive tens of thousands of US and
NATO-led troops out of Afghanistan and topple the Western-backed
Afghan government.
Afghanistan is to vote in its second presidential election on
August 20.
The Helmand offensive, in conjunction with a similar British
effort, is the first major operation under US President Barack
Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its
militant Islamist allies and stabilise Afghanistan.
With military commanders warning of a spike in casualties during
the offensive, July has already equalled the deadliest monthly
tally in the eight-year-old war, with 46 foreign troops killed in
the first two weeks of the month.
