Town prays for soldier’s return

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — Friends and family of an Idaho soldier who was captured in Afghanistan prayed for his safe return Sunday, shaken by the image of the frightened young private in a Taliban video posted online.

Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment earlier this month when he vanished, just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at a base near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold.

Bergdahl is from Hailey, a town of about 7,000 people in central Idaho where he worked as a barista and was active in ballet. A sign hanging in the window of Zaney’s River Street Coffee House says “Get Bowe Back,” and a message inside asks customers to “Join all of us at Zaney’s holding light for our friend.”

Neighbors and others in the community have known for weeks that Bergdahl had been captured but said the family urged them not to talk about the kidnapping out of fear that publicity would compromise his safety. Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told the AP that he had been working to keep the soldier’s name quiet until it was officially released.

In the video posted Saturday on a Web site pointed out by the Taliban, Bergdahl says his name and his hometown. The Pentagon confirmed his identity Sunday.

“We hope and pray for our son’s safe return to his comrades and then to our family, and we appreciate all the support and expressions of sympathy shown to us by our family members, our friends and others across the nation,” Bob Bergdahl, the soldier’s father, said in a statement issued through the Department of Defense.

The family, described by neighbors as deeply private, lives six miles west of Hailey on a remote gravel county road. The humble home has a metal roof and several outbuildings and vehicles parked in front. The family has chained and locked the front gate, and a small cardboard sign says: “No visitors.”

Neighbors are abiding by the family’s wishes not to comment on the record about Bergdahl’s capture but described the 23-year-old as an “adventurous” soul who was educated at home, danced ballet and took part in a sport-fencing club, the Sun Valley Swords.

One of the directors of the Sun Valley Ballet School in Ketchum said Bergdahl performed with the group for four or five years until about 2008.

In the 28-minute video, Bergdahl said he was lagging behind a patrol when he was captured, which conflicts with earlier military accounts that indicated he walked off the base with three Afghans.

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