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Captured soldier identified by DoD

The Defense Department on Sunday identified the soldier who has been listed as missing/captured in Afghanistan.

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, of Ketchum, Idaho, was declared Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown on July 1. His status was changed to missing/captured July 3.

Bergdahl is a member of 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Richardson, Alaska.

The DoD announcement came one day after The Associated Press reported that the Taliban had posted a video of the soldier. In the video, the man, who two defense officials confirmed to AP was the missing soldier, said he’s “scared I won’t be able to go home.”

In the 28-minute video, the soldier is shown with his head shaved and the start of a beard. He is sitting and dressed in a nondescript, gray outfit, according to AP.

Early in the video, one of his captors holds the soldier’s dog tag up to the camera. He is shown eating at one point and sitting cross-legged.

The soldier is interviewed in English by his captors, and he is asked his views on the war, his desire to learn more about Islam and the morale of American soldiers, AP reported.

Asked how he was doing, the soldier said: “Well, I’m scared, scared I won’t be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner.”

He later chokes up when discussing his family and his hope to marry his girlfriend.

“I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America. And I miss them every day when I’m gone,” he said, according to AP.

On July 2, the U.S. military said an American soldier had disappeared after walking off his base in eastern Afghanistan with three Afghan counterparts and was believed to have been taken prisoner, according to AP.

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