2 troops missing, Taliban claims capture near Kabul

Washington Post:

Two American service members went missing after driving off their base in Kabul on Friday afternoon, and the Taliban later claimed to have captured them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday, the same day five U.S. troops were killed in the south.

 The coalition launched a manhunt by ground and air for the two missing troops but did not immediately release information about their identities or what is known of their whereabouts. The Associated Press reported that the two were Navy personnel, citing a NATO official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"Every available asset is being brought to bear" to find them, said Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale, a NATO spokesman in Kabul.

Afghan officials in Logar province, which borders Kabul to the south, said the service members were driving an armored sport-utility vehicle when they were captured in Matinai, a village in the Charkh district. A spokesman for Logar's governor, Din Mohammad Darwish, said the area is "totally under control of the enemy."

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, called Afghan reporters in Logar on Saturday and told them the militant movement had captured the two Americans and killed one of them, according to an Afghan reporter and the governor's spokesman. NATO officials said they could not confirm the claims of either the Afghan officials or the Taliban.

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This is not likely to end well for the captured sailors.  The Taliban do not abide by the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners.  With a large search underway, it is likely to make life difficult for the Taliban in the area too.