U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is the Taliban's only American captive. And Sunday, the Taliban announced it was suspending talks with the U.S. over his release.
Fox News calls the decision "abrupt." The group had demanded the release of five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Sgt. Bergdahl.
A Taliban commander, who wanted to remain anonymous, explained to NBC: "We wanted to exchange our prisoners but our supreme leader asked us to stop it."
The announcement comes just a few days after reports of the talks, which were happening in Qatar, first surfaced. Arizona Sen. John McCain said the U.S. had to do at least something to try and get Bergdahl freed.
MCCAIN: "There are no good options. None. But doing nothing, which we basically have done, is the worst of all options." (Via HLN)
CNN reports U.S. officials were driven to find a way to get Bergdahl back because of a recent video that showed him in poor health.
KIVI points out the Idaho native's family had been "cautiously optimistic" about a possible release in the days before the Taliban said the talks had been suspended.
But the Taliban's statement only said talks were suspended "for the time being."
And The New York Times' Rod Nordland suggests that could give the POW's family at least a glimmer of hope: "The wording made it clear that the Taliban were leaving a door open to resuming the talks at some point."
Bergdahl has been a prisoner of war in Pakistan since 2009.
