Dubai: A Taliban video released on Tuesday
appears to show US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, captured in
Afghanistan in June 2009, the IntelCenter monitoring group
said today.
"The video contains a brief portion of new footage of
someone that appears to be US soldier Bowe Bergdahl," a
statement from IntelCenter said.
Someone who appears to be Taliban commander Maulawi
Sangin, who had threatened to kill Bergdahl in the weeks after
his capture, was also in the video, it said.
The Pentagon said it was not clear when the video --
which shows a clean-shaven Bergdahl with a close-cropped
military haircut -- was made.
"As we`ve said in the past when there have been
similar types of video released, we deplore the fact that the
Taliban is using him in that way, in releasing footage,"
Colonel Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
He added that the military was trying to recover
Bergdahl but did not know where he was being held.
Bergdahl went missing from his base in Afghanistan`s
Paktika province near the Pakistan border and his capture was
announced on June 30, 2009.
He has already appeared in three previous Taliban
videos, including one released in April 2010 that showed him
heavily bearded and wearing a US Army jacket, pleading for his
release.
A Taliban spokesman at the end of that video
reiterated demands for "a limited number" of prisoners to be
released in exchange for the soldier.
PTI
