thedrifter
07-20-09, 07:51 AM
Taliban video of GI a dilemma for U.S.
By Greg Miller and Laura King
Los Angeles Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — Posing an emotional new complication for the expanding U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, Islamic militants released a video of a captured American soldier whom U.S. military officials identified for the first time Sunday as Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho.
The video marked the first time that militants have sought to take advantage of Bergdahl's June 30 capture to mount a propaganda attack on President Obama's decision to escalate U.S. involvement in the war. The video also underscores the stakes for U.S. forces that have spent more than two weeks scouring eastern Afghanistan for clues to Bergdahl's whereabouts.
The footage shows Bergdahl in apparent good condition, dressed in a traditional Afghan loose shirt and tunic, known as a shalwar khameez. His hair is short and he has a slight stubble of beard.
Responding to prompts from his captors, Bergdahl calls for U.S. forces to be returned home and expresses his worry that he may never again see his family.
"I'm scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner," he says at one point in the 28-minute recording. "I have my girlfriend who is hoping to marry. ... I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America."
U.S. military officials denounced the video as a violation of the laws of war.
Bergdahl, an Idaho native, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. His unit is involved in counterinsurgency operations in a Taliban-infested region along the border with Pakistan.
U.S. military officials said that neither Bergdahl's capture nor the release of the video would alter their strategy in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are trying to bolster a wobbly central government and halt an alarming decline in security.
But now that Bergdahl has been publicly identified, he represents a propaganda weapon that his captors are likely to continue to use. The U.S. government had resisted naming Bergdahl since his capture June 30 after he strayed from a U.S. base on the eastern edge of Afghanistan.
Bergdahl is the first U.S. soldier captured in the conflict.
Even if U.S. military officials can determine where Bergdahl is being held, they face the dilemma of whether a rescue attempt might only place him in greater danger.
In the video, Bergdahl says he was captured when he lagged behind on patrol. In the days after the abduction, however, U.S. military officials speaking on condition of anonymity said he was believed to have simply walked away from his base in Paktika province.
Asked by his captors whether he had a message for his countrymen, Bergdahl offered a seemingly scripted reply: "To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home."
His military identification tags are shown in the video, which ostensibly was recorded Tuesday. A spokesman for the Idaho National Guard declined to identify Bergdahl's parents and said they had asked for their privacy to be protected.
The family released a statement Sunday saying that they "hope and pray for our son's safe return to his comrades and then to our family."
Ellie
By Greg Miller and Laura King
Los Angeles Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — Posing an emotional new complication for the expanding U.S. military effort in Afghanistan, Islamic militants released a video of a captured American soldier whom U.S. military officials identified for the first time Sunday as Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho.
The video marked the first time that militants have sought to take advantage of Bergdahl's June 30 capture to mount a propaganda attack on President Obama's decision to escalate U.S. involvement in the war. The video also underscores the stakes for U.S. forces that have spent more than two weeks scouring eastern Afghanistan for clues to Bergdahl's whereabouts.
The footage shows Bergdahl in apparent good condition, dressed in a traditional Afghan loose shirt and tunic, known as a shalwar khameez. His hair is short and he has a slight stubble of beard.
Responding to prompts from his captors, Bergdahl calls for U.S. forces to be returned home and expresses his worry that he may never again see his family.
"I'm scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner," he says at one point in the 28-minute recording. "I have my girlfriend who is hoping to marry. ... I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America."
U.S. military officials denounced the video as a violation of the laws of war.
Bergdahl, an Idaho native, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. His unit is involved in counterinsurgency operations in a Taliban-infested region along the border with Pakistan.
U.S. military officials said that neither Bergdahl's capture nor the release of the video would alter their strategy in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are trying to bolster a wobbly central government and halt an alarming decline in security.
But now that Bergdahl has been publicly identified, he represents a propaganda weapon that his captors are likely to continue to use. The U.S. government had resisted naming Bergdahl since his capture June 30 after he strayed from a U.S. base on the eastern edge of Afghanistan.
Bergdahl is the first U.S. soldier captured in the conflict.
Even if U.S. military officials can determine where Bergdahl is being held, they face the dilemma of whether a rescue attempt might only place him in greater danger.
In the video, Bergdahl says he was captured when he lagged behind on patrol. In the days after the abduction, however, U.S. military officials speaking on condition of anonymity said he was believed to have simply walked away from his base in Paktika province.
Asked by his captors whether he had a message for his countrymen, Bergdahl offered a seemingly scripted reply: "To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home."
His military identification tags are shown in the video, which ostensibly was recorded Tuesday. A spokesman for the Idaho National Guard declined to identify Bergdahl's parents and said they had asked for their privacy to be protected.
The family released a statement Sunday saying that they "hope and pray for our son's safe return to his comrades and then to our family."
Ellie