Only US prisoner in Afghanistan is ALIVE but 'in diminished health' after five years in captivity according to new proof of life video

U.S. military announced on Wednesday that they have received a video featuring Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl

He is America's only known prisoner of war in Afghanistan and has been held captive since his capture in 2009

His family have released a statement asking for his release and urging him directly to remain 'strong through patience'



In the past, the Taliban has said they would free him in exchange for several senior operatives detained at Guantanamo Bay



Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, 27, of Wood Valley, Idaho, is alive but 'in diminished health' according to military officials who've seen a recently obtained proof-of-life video

The U.S. military has obtained a new video of captured Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known American prisoner of war in Afghanistan.



The so-called proof-of-life video is the first footage of the Wood Valley, Idaho, native in almost three years.



The video hasn’t been released to the media, but Bergdahl was described by one senior defense official as looking in diminished health from the effects of close to five years in captivity.

The video came to light several days ago and is believed to be relatively recent as it includes a reference to December 14, 2013.

Bergdahl was taken prisoner in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed he is being held somewhere in Pakistan.



U.S. efforts to free Bergdahl, including negotiating for his release, have so far failed.



'Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been gone far too long, and we continue to call for and work toward his safe and immediate release,' a Pentagon spokesman told CNN.



'We cannot discuss all the details of our efforts, but there should be no doubt that on a daily basis - using our military, intelligence and diplomatic tools - we work to see Sgt. Bergdahl returned home safely,' the spokesman said.



In the past, the Taliban has said they would free him in exchange for several of their most senior operatives who are detained at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.



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U.S. Army Private Bowe Bergdahl watches as one of his captors displays his identity tag to the camera at an unknown location in Afghanistan, July 19, 2009 not long after he was first captured

Jani and Bob Bergdahl, the parents of captured U.S. Army Sergeant, addressed a rally held in their son's honor in Haley, Idaho, last June

Bergdahl's family have issued a statement in response to the latest video: 'As we have done so many times over the past four and a half years, we request his captors to release him safely so that our only son can be reunited with his mother and father.



'BOWE - If see this, continue to remain strong through patience. Your endurance will carry you to the finish line. Breathe!'

Last year they received a letter from him via the Red Cross, but no details from the letter were released as he was considered to still be in a volatile situation.

Bergdahl was 23 when he was captured after finishing a guard shift at a combat outpost in southeastern Paktika province.

Captive: Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been kept as a prisoner of war by the Taliban after being captured

The U.S. government acknowledged in May 2012 that it was engaged in talks with the Taliban to free Bergdahl.



The discussions moved in fits and starts because of U.S. concerns that any Taliban prisoners swapped for Bergdahl might be repatriated and allowed to rejoin the fight.



Last June, however, the White House announced it was willing to send five Taliban prisoners to Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl.

Among the five prisoners the Taliban has consistently asked for are Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former governor of Herat, and Mullah Mohammed Fazl, a Taliban military commander.



The men have been held at Guantanamo for about a decade.

The former ballet student was seen as an unlikely recruit for the Army by some, but family and friends say he admired the military for its discipline and for what he saw as its role in protecting the American way of life, according to the New York Times.

He was lured into a military life by the promise of travel and the chance to help people across the world. But two months after arriving in Afghanistan he was captured.

Since his capture, Sergeant Bergdahl has been forced to appear in several propaganda videos for the Taliban, pleading for an end to the U.S's involvement in the war.

It is also believed that he made a daring escape attempt in 2011. He jumped from a first-floor window of a mud-brick house in Pakistan where he was being held, and escaped into underbrush and forested mountains.

His captors found him three days later hiding in a trench, covered with leaves and nearly naked, according to a report.



Sources described Sgt Bergdahl, as fighting 'like a boxer' when he was found.

