Taliban release video of captive US soldier

Taliban release video of captive US soldier
Updated at: 1626 PST, Friday, December 25, 2009
KABUL: The Taliban released a new video on Friday purportedly showing US soldier Bowe Robert Bergdahl who was captured in Afghanistan about six months ago.

The video showed a brief clip of Bergdahl, 23, in front of a carpet wearing in combat fatigues, a helmet and sunglasses.

"I'm afraid to tell you that this war has slipped from our fingers and it's just going to be our next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," he said.

Bergdahl, a private who disappeared on June 30, is the first US soldier to be captured in Afghanistan since the US-led war in 2001.

In the video, Bergdahl, a private first class, gives identifying details about himself such as his rank, date and place of birth and other family information, as well as deployment details.

It was not clear when the video was made.

There was no immediate comment from the US military or NATO forces in Afghanistan. In July, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced his capture as "outrageous" and said the United States was doing everything it could to locate and free him.

The Taliban issued another video of Bergdahl in July, showing a visibly shaken shaven-headed soldier pleading for US troops to leave the war-torn nation.

Hundreds of US soldiers and troops from other nations have been killed in Afghanistan battling the widening Taliban-led insurgency.