The Taliban claims to have taken a military working dog as a prisoner in a video where Taliban members show off the dog and rifles supposedly obtained after a firefight with U.S. forces in December.
A NATO spokesman has confirmed U.S. forces have been missing a working dog since December, which adds credibility to the Taliban’s claim. However, NATO officials would not confirm if the dog in the video was one affiliated with a coalition unit.
“We can confirm that a military working dog went missing following an ISAF mission in December, 2013. It is ISAF policy to defer identification to the appropriate national authorities,” NATO’s International Security Assistance Force-Afghanistan said in a statement sent to Military.com.
The dog in the video appears to be a Belgian Malinois wearing a black vest held by a group of alleged members of the Taliban. During the video, one of the Tabliban members refers to the dog as colonel, which is a rank they found on the dog’s vest.
From www.military.com