WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN

A militant commander who is holding a U.S. soldier said Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar’s council was waiting for a response to its demands before he decides the American’s fate.

It was the first news of Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released July 18.

Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, said the Taliban’s governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the U.S. for his return. “The American’s fate is in the hand of [the leadership], which is waiting until a response from the Americans to its demands,” Sangin said.

Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, was serving with an Alaska-based infantry regiment when he went missing June 30, five months after arriving in Afghanistan.