The case was also a grim evocation of some of the most emotionally wrenching events for the U.S. military in Iraq.
In 2007, three American soldiers were captured during an ambush in an area just south of Baghdad then known as the "triangle of death." The body of one soldier, Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr. of Torrance, was found days later in the Euphrates River. Those of his slain comrades were not found until more than a year later. Another U.S. soldier, Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, was taken in 2004; his remains were found outside Baghdad nearly four years later.
Eastern Afghanistan borders on Pakistan's tribal areas, and kidnappers have proved capable of moving their captives across the frontier. New York Times correspondent David Rohde, who was abducted in Afghanistan in November, last month escaped from his captors, who had taken him across the border to the tribal area of Waziristan.
Despite a conflict that involves daily clashes, insurgents rarely have the chance to get close enough to capture a Western soldier. American forces in eastern Afghanistan occupy a string of bases near the Pakistani border, some of them large installations and some small outposts. It would be very difficult for insurgents to penetrate a base and capture any military personnel.
However, U.S. troops routinely leave their bases to patrol roads where insurgents are suspected of planting roadside bombs and occasionally exchange small-arms fire with militants they encounter.
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laura.king@latimes.com
