Kabul: The troops hunting for the young private have little to go on: He disappeared near the border with Pakistan, his Taliban captors released a propaganda video of him two weeks later, downcast and frightened. Then, at least publicly, nothing about the only US soldier missing in the Afghan war.
US military officials in Afghanistan say they are still searching for 23-year-old Pfc Bowe R Bergdahl, who disappeared on June 30, three months ago but they reveal little else for fear of jeopardising the search or his safety. Advanced intelligence gathering aircraft are being used for the hunt, but it`s not even clear if Bergdahl is being held in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
There has been no public update on the Hailey, Idaho, native since his captors posted the video of him in mid-July.
At home in Idaho, the streets are lined with yellow ribbons, and the local TV station displays one in the corner of the screen throughout the day. Bergdahl`s family receives regular updates from the military, said Lt Col Tim Marsano, a spokesman for the Idaho National Guard who is in weekly contact with the family.
"They`ve prepared themselves for this to last as long as it`s going to last," Marsano said.
The US military classifies Bergdahl as "missing-captured”.
Officials will not comment on most questions surrounding his case, including the circumstances of his disappearance, which Marsano said "are not fully established”.
The top Afghan police official in the eastern province of Paktika, where Bergdahl was based, said his police forces have joined Afghan soldiers and US troops on operations looking for Bergdahl, "but unfortunately we were not able to find him”.
"We don`t have any information," said the police chief, Gen Dawlat Khan. "Our intelligence sources were not able to find out anything about him. I`m not able to tell you where he is, whether Pakistan, or Afghanistan, because I have no idea."
One possibility is that Bergdahl`s captors are holding him in Pakistan, which is off-limits to the thousands of US forces based in Afghanistan.
When militants captured a reporter for The New York Times in a dangerous region of Afghanistan last year, he was transported to Pakistan and held for months there. The reporter, David Rohde, eventually escaped.
In Pakistan, a senior military official said, "We have not heard anything about that soldier. We do not have any information on his whereabouts." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Bureau Report
