Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US will do everything to secure the release of an American soldier who has been seized by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.

Clinton, who is in India, made the pledge in an interview aired on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday.

"We are attempting to do everything we can to locate him and free him."

The top US diplomat described the unprecedented captures as "outrageous".

"It's a real sign of desperation and inappropriate criminal behavior on the parts of these terrorist groups, so we are going to do everything we can to get him."

Her remarks come after insurgents released a 28-minute video of the American soldier, who went missing from his base, in a Taliban stronghold near the volatile Pakistani border region in June.

The soldier identified as Private Bowe Bergdahl, 23, called for the "withdrawal" of US troops from Afghanistan.

He also addressed the American people and said, "You have the power to make our government bring them home".

"Please, please bring us home so that we can be back where we belong and not over here, wasting our time and our lives and our precious life that we could be using back in our own country," the soldier says in the video footage posted on the Internet.

US defense officials have confirmed that the man in the video is the missing soldier.

Military spokesman Captain Jon denounced the video, accusing the Taliban of breaching "international law" by "the use of the soldier for propaganda purposes".

The development comes as foreign forces stationed in the country are locked in a tough battle with insurgents in the troubled southern and eastern provinces of Afghanistan.

The capture has piled further pressure on the governments involved in the invasion.

July is shaping up as the deadliest month for US-led forces in Afghanistan, with the foreign troop death toll reaching its highest in the eight-year war.

JR/HGH/AA




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