Soldier Captured in Afghanistan

Oh dear:

A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the military said Thursday.

In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, officials said "we are exhausting all available resources to ascertain his whereabouts and provide for his safe return."

...Agence-France Press reported that a commander of the Taliban's hard-line Haqqani faction claimed Thursday that his militia had captured the soldier in the Yousuf Khail district of Paktika province. The area is along the porous border with Pakistan. That report could not be independently confirmed.

"Our leaders have not decided on the fate of this soldier." the AFP quoted the Haqqani commander, identified only as Bahram, as saying. "They will decide on his fate and soon we will present video tapes of the coalition soldier and our demand to media."

My thoughts, in order: Dear Maude, I hope he's all right. I hope he's not taken into Pakistan, would could escalate an already tense situation there. I hope he is treated better than we treated our detainees—and this, this, is why even those who (inconceivably) have no ethical objection to torture shouldn't support it, anyway.