Taliban threatens to kill U.S. soldier in Afghanistan

Kabul, July 17 (ANI): Taliban commanders delivered an ultimatum to the U.S. military on Thursday to withdraw from south eastern Afghanistan or an American soldier they had captured last week would be killed.

Abdullah Jalali, a spokesman for a local Taliban faction, said the soldier was in good condition, but did not release photos or video.

He did not set a deadline for the demand to be met, saying only that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar would make the final decision.

Jalali said the soldier would be killed unless air strikes ceased in Ghazni Province's Giro district and Paktika Province's Khoshamand district, which he said have been heavily bombed by U.S. forces.

U.S. military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said recent operations in Giro did not involve air strikes, but she did not comment on operations in Paktika Province or respond directly to the Taliban's demands.

The soldier, an Army infantryman whose identity has not been released, went missing June 30. Officials said they've intercepted communications in which insurgents talked about holding an American.

The Taliban claimed they captured the soldier after he was found drunk with two Afghan soldiers. (ANI)