Missing U.S. serviceman confirmed dead in Afghanistan

One of two American servicemen who disappeared in a dangerous area south of the Afghan capital last week has been confirmed dead, the Western military said Tuesday.

The Taliban had said earlier that one of the two Americans was killed in a firefight Friday and the other taken captive, an account confirmed by Afghan officials in Lowgar province. American officials identified the pair as U.S. Navy personnel but did not disclose their unit or assignment.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force said in a statement that the dead serviceman’s remains were recovered Sunday “after an extensive search.” It was not clear how the body was found and retrieved; a local Taliban faction had initially offered to exchange the remains for insurgent prisoners.

Relatives identified the slain man as Justin McNeley, a 30-year-old noncommissioned Navy officer and a father of two who enlisted in 2001. His tour of duty was due to end next month. NcNeley’s father is a deputy fire marshal in Encinitas; his mother resides in Kingman, Ariz.

Until now, Western officials described the second man as missing rather than captured. But Tuesday’s statement indirectly confirmed he was being held, saying that the NATO force “holds the captors accountable” for his safety and proper treatment.

The two men left their base in Kabul on Friday afternoon in an armored sport-utility vehicle and were last seen in Lowgar’s Charkh district, known as an insurgent stronghold.

Western military officials have not explained what the two were doing alone in an area known to be unsafe even for heavily armed military convoys. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, has said the movement’s leadership would decide what to do with their captive, whom he described as being held in a “secure location.”

Although an intensive air-and-ground search continues, Afghan officials say hopes are fading of finding any sign of the missing man, because the abductors have had more than three days to transport and hide him.

The only other American serviceman known to be held prisoner by the insurgents, Idaho National Guardsman Bowe Bergdahl, was thought to have been taken across the border to Pakistan soon after his capture 13 months ago in eastern Afghanistan.

laura.king@latimes.com