A spokesman for a Taliban commander said a captured U.S. soldier will be executed unless the U.S. military stops operations in two districts of southeastern Afghanistan.

The Taliban said last week they were holding the soldier. The U.S. military earlier said he went missing and might be in enemy hands.

Abdullah Jalali, spokesman for Taliban commander Mawlavi Sangin, said today the soldier was healthy but threatened to kill him unless the U.S. stops airstrikes in Ghazni province's Giro district and Paktika province's Khoshamand district.

Jalali said Giro has been heavily bombed by international forces but did not otherwise explain why they chose those areas.