Taliban awaiting US response on captured American soldier

Kabul (Afghanistan), Aug.10 (ANI): Taliban leader Mullah Omar's council is reportedly waiting for a response from the United States to its demands before deciding on the fate of a captured American soldier.

It was the first news of 23-year-old Private First Class Bowe R Bergdahl since a Taliban video was released on July 18, certifying that he was in the captivity of the militants.

"The American's fate is in the hand of (leadership), which is waiting until a response from the Americans to its demands," Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, was quoted by a foreign news agency, as saying.

A spokesman for Sangin had previously said the soldier would be killed unless the US stopped air strikes in eastern Afghanistan.

Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment when he disappeared June 30, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at an eastern base near the border with Pakistan.

He said to be in Taliban-controlled Ghazni province. (ANI)