Soldier named by the Pentagon as Private Bowe Bergdahl, 23, of Idaho was captured in Afghanistan three weeks ago pleads for American troops to return home

The Taliban have released a video of a US soldier kidnapped outside a US base in Afghanistan almost three weeks ago.

Shaven-headed and emotional, the soldier, named by the Pentagon today as Private Bowe Bergdahl, 23, of Idaho, pleads for American troops to return home.

A US military spokesman in Kabul condemned the video as propaganda and a breach of the rules of war.

In the 28-minute video, which the militants released via the internet yesterday, Bergdahl is shown with a razed head, a light beard and wearing a grey shalwar kameez.

The soldier describes the war as "very hard" and says he is keen to learn about Islam. Then his captors prompt him to deliver a message.

"To my fellow Americans who have loved ones over here, who know what it's like to miss them, you have the power to make our government bring them home," Bergdahl said.

"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. Please bring us home."

The tape is heavily edited, and his voice becomes strained when describing his personal life. "I'm scared, scared I won't be able to go home. It is very unnerving to be a prisoner," he tells the camera.

He says he misses his family and intends to marry his girlfriend. "I miss them and I'm afraid that I might not ever see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again and I'll never be able to hug them." A US military spokesman in Kabul, Captain Jon Stock, confirmed the captive was the US soldier who went missing outside a US base in southern Paktika province on 30 June.

"The use of the soldier for propaganda purposes we view as against international law," he told Reuters. "We are continuing to do whatever possible to recover the soldier safe and unharmed."

The circumstances of Bergdahl's abduction remain unclear. The military said he was snatched from outside the base perimeter along with three Afghan nationals. In the video, the soldier said he was captured after lagging behind on a patrol.

On 2 July an Afghan journalist based in Peshawar, Sami Yousafzai, said he received a call from a Taliban commander offering to negotiate a prisoner exchange. The soldier dates the tape at 14 July.

Any US plan to rescue the young soldier would become complicated if, as many believe likely, he is being held across the border in Pakistan's tribal belt. Paktika province adjoins North Waziristan, a hub of militant activity. Several westerners kidnapped in Afghanistan have been held in Pakistan. Last month a New York Times reporter, David Rohde, escaped from a house in North Waziristan after eight months in captivity.

The area is the stronghold of the Haqqani network, an al-Qaida affiliated group with a network of supporters on both sides of the border. Led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of a elderly jihadist warlord, it has been accused of numerous attacks on western civilians and soldiers.