Bowe Bergdahl’s home town has abruptly cancelled plans for a welcome back celebration amid security fears over the prospect of big crowds – for and against the US soldier freed by the Taliban in a prisoner-swap deal.

The Taliban released a video showing Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl being handed over to US forces and bundled into a helicopter in eastern Afghanistan.

A Pentagon investigation concluded in 2010 that Army Sgt Bowe Bergdahl walked away from his unit, and after an initial flurry of searching the military decided not to exert extraordinary efforts to rescue him, according to a former senior defence official.

Nearly five years after his capture by insurgents, Sgt Bowe Bergdahl’s "safety and health were both in jeopardy" and officials had to act quickly to obtain his release, Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said yesterday.

The only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed by the Taliban in exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan has been freed and is in US custody, according to US officials.

US officials have received a new video of captured Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl they believe was taken within the last month, showing that the soldier is alive.

The Afghan Taliban has said it is ready to hand over a US soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of its senior operatives being held at Guantanamo Bay.

A new video released by the Taliban today showed the only known US serviceman held captive in Afghanistan still alive after nearly 18 months.

One of two US sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a Nato spokesman said today.

Militants set off a car bomb and stormed the entrance to a major Nato air base in eastern Afghanistan today, an attack which left eight insurgents dead.

Video of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan last June, showing him pleading for his freedom, was released by the Taliban today.

The Taliban released a video today showing a US soldier who was captured more than five months ago in eastern Afghanistan.

THE Pentagon has confirmed that an American soldier who went missing from his base in Afghanistan has been captured and identified him as a private from Idaho serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment.

The Pentagon today confirmed that an American soldier who went missing from his base in Afghanistan has been captured and identified him as a private from Idaho serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment.