10 August 2009 / AP, DERA ISMAIL KHAN
A militant commander who is holding a US soldier abducted in Afghanistan said on Sunday that Taliban leader Mullah Omar's council is waiting for a response to its demands before deciding the American's fate.
It was the first news of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released July 18. Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, said the Taliban's governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the US for his return. “The American's fate is in the hand of (leadership), which is waiting until a response from the Americans to its demands,” Sangin told The Associated Press. Sangin would not elaborate on the demands or say if any deadline had been given. A spokesman for Sangin had previously said the soldier would be killed unless the US stops airstrikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan. Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment when he disappeared June 30, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at an eastern base near the border with Pakistan. The circumstances of his capture weren't clear. Details of such incidents are routinely withheld by the military to avoid giving away any information to captors.
