(Associated Press) The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.
The offer follows this week’s official opening of a Taliban political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.
The only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war is US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.
