The only known American soldier in Taliban captivity is training fighters in bombmaking and ambush, according to information reported Sunday from one of his captors and the Afghan intelligence agents working to free him. Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared from an American military base in southeastern Afghanistan in June 2009. Last week, one of his captors was interviewed, shedding light on a case that has baffled U.S. military officials.
A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika province said the 24-year-old American had converted to Islam in the months after his capture. He said Bergdahl, from Idaho’s Sun Valley, had trained Taliban fighters in bomb-making and ambushing convoys.
“When I saw him for the second time, he had totally changed. He had a beard and he treated all of us very respectfully. He seemed very relaxed in our company. He was no longer scared,” said the commander, who called himself Haji Nadeem.
Bergdahl, who was given the Muslim name Abdullah after converting, allegedly taught Nadeem how to dismantle a Nokia mobile telephone and turn it into a remote control for roadside bombs. Nadeem also received basic ambush training during a two-hour session in the Sar Hawza district.
“Most of the skills he taught us we already knew. Some of my comrades think he’s pretending to be a Muslim to save himself so they wouldn’t behead him,” said Nadeem.
merican forces, acting on a tip-off received by the NDS six days after Bergdahl disappeared, came close to rescuing him when they raided a tent belonging to Kuchi nomads on the Pakistan border.
The soldiers chased a group of fighters in the vicinity, killing at least one of them. They found rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles in one of the tents, but no Bergdahl.
Three videos showing the American soldier in captivity have been released by the Taliban, including one on Christmas Day in which Bergdahl criticized American operations in Afghanistan.
