Taliban Hostage's Hometown Stayed Quiet on Kidnapping

The Taliban's capture of an American soldier in Afghanistan is old news for some residents of his hometown, but they kept quiet out of concern for his safety, the AP reports. The family of Bowe R. Bergdahl asked neighbors and other community members in Hailey, Idaho, not to discuss his situation publicly—a request they honored for weeks. The Pentagon released his name over the weekend after a Taliban video surfaced online.

"If the military wasn't releasing his name, we didn't feel we should be releasing it either,” Bergdahl’s former employer says. Bergdahl was home-schooled in Hailey, where he liked to ride his bike, attended a local ballet school, and worked at a café. That café now has a sign in its window reading "Get Bowe Back.” Meanwhile, his parents, described as very private, have a sign turning visitors away.
(More Bowe Bergdahl stories.)