Free Dr Aafia or your solider dies, Taliban to US

The Afghan Taliban has threatened to kill a US soldier in its captivity if Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist currently in detention in New York, is not released.

The Taliban claimed that Siddiqui's family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to do justice with her.

Siddiqui has been charged for firing at US officials in Afghanistan.

'Being Muslims, it becomes our religious and moral obligation to help the distressed Pakistani woman convicted by the US court on false charges,' The News quoted a top Afghan Taliban commander, as saying.

The extremists commander threatened that kidnapped US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, would be executed it their demands were not accepted.

'We tried our best to make the family understand that our role may create more troubles for the hapless woman, who was already in trouble. On their persistent requests, we have now decided to include Dr Aafia Siddiqui's name in the list of our prisoners in US custody that we delivered to Americans in Afghanistan for swap of their soldier in our custody,' the militant commander said, on conditions of anonymity.

It may be noted that Bergdahl was kidnapped from Afghanistan's Paktika province near Pakistan's troubled South Waziristan in June 2009.