Taliban Video Claims to Be Captured US Soldier

The Taliban today released a video purporting to show a US soldier who was captured more than five months ago in eastern Afghanistan. In the video a man is shown seated, facing the camera, wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a US military helmet and uniform. He identifies himself as Bowe Robert Bergdahl, born in Sun Valley, Idaho, and gives his rank, birth date, blood type, his unit and mother's maiden name before beginning a lengthy verbal attack on the US conduct of the war in Afghanistan and its relations with Muslims.

The prisoner appears healthy, and doesn't appear to have been abused; he contrasts his treatment with reports of prisoner abuse at American detention centers, saying, "I was continuously treated as a human being with dignity. I had nobody deprive me of my clothes and take pictures of me naked. I had no dogs barking at me and biting me, as my country has done to Muslim prisoners in the jails that I mentioned." A statement read by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, renews demands for a "limited number of prisoners" to be exchanged for Bergdahl. (More Bowe Bergdahl stories.)