--- description: Coalition forces are investigating the claim title: Taliban Fighters Say They Captured a U.S. Military Dog image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Afghanistan](/tag/afghanistan/) ## Afghanistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Taliban Fighters Say They Captured a U.S. Military Dog by [David Winograd](/author/david-winograd/) ## David Winograd Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 6, 2014 10:46 PM CUT by [David Winograd](/author/david-winograd/) ## David Winograd Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 6, 2014 10:46 PM CUT Taliban militants said Thursday that they have abducted a military dog from an American-led unit in Afghanistan. NBC News [reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/taliban-claims-capture-military-dog-afghanistan-n23456 "undefined") that the dog that was allegedly taken during a raid where six U.S. soldiers were killed, or so the Taliban claim. Militants uploaded a video clip of the frightened-looking dog to a jihadist website. “This dog was very important to the Americans,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told NBC News. “Once we got this dog, the Americans tried their best to get it back but they did not succeed.” (**MORE**: [Top 10 Militant Animals](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2004390,00.html "undefined")) Despite Taliban claims, the dog’s nationality remains unknown. Defense officials in Washington, D.C. believe it belonged to a British unit. Laurie Arellano, spokesperson for the coalition forces in Afghanistan, said that, “We are aware of media reports and we’re looking into it.” Not all is lost for the captured dog. In 2010, an Australian bomb-sniffing dog was rescued by U.S. forces after it was missing in Afghanistan for 18 months. \[[NBC](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/taliban-claims-capture-military-dog-afghanistan-n23456 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5552/taliban-u-s-military-dog/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5552/taliban-u-s-military-dog/"},"headline":"Taliban Fighters Say They Captured a U.S. Military Dog","datePublished":"2014-02-06T22:46:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:20:14.558Z","description":"Coalition forces are investigating the claim","url":"https://time.com/5552/taliban-u-s-military-dog/","keywords":["Afghanistan"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Winograd","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-winograd/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/afghanistan/","name":"Afghanistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5552/taliban-u-s-military-dog/","name":"Taliban Fighters Say They Captured a U.S. Military Dog"}}]}] ```