On Friday Hakimi, whose information has often proved unreliable, said guerrillas in Kunar captured an American soldier on Wednesday who had been aboard the helicopter when it crashed.
"He was trying to escape up the mountain when our mujahideen (holy warriors) caught him," he said.
The military has already said that all 16 (the original # of 17 was wrong) who were on the helicopter were killed and their bodies recovered. So no one who was on the helicopter is missing.
Asked what evidence the Taliban had that they were holding a U.S. soldier, he replied: "The Americans have announced themselves that some of their soldiers are missing.
Not very convincing. He's basically saying "we heard them say some were missing, so that's our proof we have one."
"We don't need to tell lies. When we kill him, we will tell the Americans to go and get the body and that will be the proof."
If they really had one alive they'd use him for propaganda purposes and leverage, not just kill him. So he's basically laying the groundwork for the Taliban having or finding a dead U.S. soldier (entirely possible) and claiming he had been captured alive and killed.
The missing SEALs are not part of the QRF that went down in the MH47 helicopter crash -
The SEALs that are currently missing are who the QRF was coming in to extract after their recon position had been overrun -
I'll be hoping for the best for our missing troops in the meantime. They are some of the best and I have to hope that means they have a better than average chance of making it out alive.