President Barack Obama is "evaluating what our options are" in response to the capture of a US soldier in Afghanistan, whose plight the US leader described in an interview broadcast Tuesday as "heartbreaking."
Asked by NBC television about his response to a videotape showing emotional footage of 23-year-old US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who is being held by the Taliban, Obama said: "It's always heartbreaking, AFP reported.
"Our young men and women who are serving in our armed forces do such an extraordinary job; put themselves in harm's way each and every day -- especially those who are deployed in Afghanistan and in Iraq," the president said.
"Seeing something like this, it makes you think about families. It makes you think about the young man. We are hopeful that it will have a good ending. And we are doing everything we can" to secure his release, said Obama, adding that he was unable to reveal more information about those efforts.
In the interview taped Monday but broadcast Tuesday, Obama also expressed gratitude for "what these young men and women are doing on behalf of our safety, and our security."
The president said that he has not yet spoken to Bergdahl's family "simply because we want to make sure that, before we do, we have something to tell them. "We're, at this point, evaluating what our options are."
Bergdahl was captured on June 30 in southeastern Afghanistan. His identity was confirmed by US authorities Sunday after a videotape showing the captured soldier surfaced showing him looking nervous, frightened and occasionally choking back sobs.