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Taliban Release Video Of Captive US Soldier

   VOA News 25 December 2009

Photo: AP

   Video  frame  grab from the Taliban propaganda video purportedly shows
   U.S.  soldier  Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, 23, who was captured more than five
   months ago in eastern Afghanistan, 25 Dec 2009

   The  Taliban  has  released a video purportedly showing a missing U.S.
   soldier.
   It  shows  a clip of man who identifies himself as 23-year-old Private
   Bowe  Bergdahl.   He  is shown wearing a helmet sunglasses and an army
   uniform.   He  tells the camera that Afghanistan will become America's
   "next  Vietnam  unless  the American people stand up and stop all this
   nonsense."
   Bergdahl,  from  the  state  of Idaho, is the first U.S. soldier to be
   captured  in  Afghanistan.   He disappeared in late June after leaving
   his base camp in Paktika with three Afghans.
   Taliban commanders have previously threatened to kill Bergdahl.
   Friday's  video  is  not  the  first  allegedly  showing  the captured
   soldier.
   In  a  video  posted  on  a Taliban website in July, Bergdahl is shown
   telling  Americans  with  loved  ones fighting in Afghanistan - in his
   words - "to make our government bring them home."
   Bergdahl  also  appears  on  a  video  by deputy al-Qaida leader Ayman
   al-Zawahri,  made  to  mark  the anniversary of the September 11, 2001
   terror  attacks on the U.S.   However, U.S. based terrorism monitoring
   group IntelCenter said the shots of Bergdahl might have been old.
   Top  U.S.  officials,  including  Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have
   said the military is sparing no effort to find him.
   Afghan officials have said they were also working to secure Bergdahl's
   release.
   They  have  not  said  whether  they  believe  Bergdahl  is  still  in
   Afghanistan or if militants have shifted him to hideouts in Pakistan.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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