KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, AND ISTANBUL, TURKEY — The apparent capture of an American soldier by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, believed to be the first such case in nearly eight years of warfare, presents U.S. military officials with potentially agonizing choices just as a major military offensive is underway in one of the most guerrilla-filled areas of the south.
The soldier could provide insurgents with both a propaganda bonanza and a bargaining chip. There was no immediate public claim of responsibility from any group, but a number of militant commanders, not all of them affiliated with the Taliban, operate in eastern Afghanistan.
The U.S. military said in a terse statement that the soldier had disappeared Tuesday, but it disclosed virtually nothing of the circumstances other than to say he was believed to have been captured.
However, an American military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident, said that for unknown reasons, the soldier apparently left his base near the Pakistani border. Like most U.S. installations in the country's rugged eastern sector, the base is surrounded by hostile territory where a number of insurgent groups operate. The soldier was reported to have been in the company of several Afghans.
"We are using all of our available resources to establish his whereabouts and provide for his safe return," said Army Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a spokeswoman for American forces.
In southern Afghanistan, one Marine was killed in action during the first day of the military assault in a large swath of Helmand province, the Marine Expeditionary Brigade- Afghanistan said in a statement, adding that "several" others were injured or wounded. The slain Marine was not immediately identified.
Nearly 4,000 Marines and more than 600 Afghan troops pushed before dawn Thursday into the lower Helmand River valley, a string of villages and farms where insurgents have long ranged freely.
The area is a center of Afghanistan's flourishing opium trade as well as the insurgency, which uses its share of drug profits to bankroll attacks on Western troops.
The helicopter- and convoy-borne assault, among the largest in the south since the start of the conflict in October 2001, met with little initial resistance from Taliban fighters, who largely slipped away.
