An American soldier is believed to have been captured by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said today.
The soldier has been missing from his unit since Tuesday, said Army Capt. Elizabeth Mathias. Citing concern for his safety, she did not disclose the circumstances of his disappearance, or explain how military authorities had concluded that he was being held, or say whether there had been any communication with insurgents about the missing man.
The brief military statement was not definitive about a capture having occurred; Mathias said the soldier in question was "believed" to have fallen into the hands of "militant forces."
There was no immediate public claim of responsibility from any insurgent group. A number of different militant commanders, not all of them affiliated with the Taliban, operate in eastern Afghanistan.
However, the Reuters news agency quoted a senior Taliban commander, Mullah Sangeen, as saying the soldier was captured earlier this week as he left a base in Paktika province on patrol.
If the reports are borne out and an American soldier was seized alive, it would represent an unprecedented coup for the insurgents. They could exploit a capture for propaganda purposes or demand concessions such as a prisoner exchange.
Abductions of aid workers, journalists and Afghan nationals are not unusual, but a military official said the soldier's apparent capture was believed to be the first of its kind in the Afghan conflict.
"We are using all of our available resources to establish his whereabouts and provide for his safe return," Mathias said.
Eastern Afghanistan borders Pakistan's tribal areas, and kidnappers have in the past proved able to move captives across the frontier. New York Times correspondent David Rohde, who was abducted in Afghanistan seven months ago, escaped last month from his captors, who had taken him across the border to the tribal area of Waziristan.
American forces in eastern Afghanistan man a string of bases in remote, rugged territory near the Pakistani border, some of them large installations and some of them small outposts. It would be very difficult for insurgents to penetrate a base and make a capture.
The U.S. troops routinely patrol roads where insurgents are suspected of planting roadside bombs and occasionally exchange gunfire with militants. The American forces also carry out airstrikes and pinpoint artillery strikes when unmanned drones spots hostile activity by fighters.
Most of the American troops in Afghanistan are stationed in the east or in the south, where a major helicopter-borne offensive by U.S. Marines is underway. About 4,000 American forces and some 600 Afghan troops are taking part in the assault in Helmand province, a center of both the insurgency and Afghanistan's opium-poppy production.
The offensive – dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword" – is the first large-scale assault by U.S. forces under the Obama administration's revamped strategy for the Afghan conflict. It is aimed at seizing and holding the lower Helmand River valley, where insurgents have operated freely for years.
Special correspondent Faiez reported from Kabul, and staff writer King from Istanbul, Turkey.
laura.king@latimes.com
