The US has held indirect talks with the Taliban over the possible transfer of five senior Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for a US soldier captured nearly five years ago, a Taliban official says.
Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, 27, of Hailey, Idaho, was last seen in a video released in December, footage seen as "proof of life" demanded by the United States.
Bergdahl is believed to be held in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He is the only US soldier to be captured in the country's longest war, which began with the US-led ouster of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 attacks.
The talks, which the Taliban official said took place sometime over the past two months in a Middle Eastern country, would be the first significant movement toward an exchange since it was last discussed by the US and the Taliban in June 2013.
That earlier initiative, along with the overall peace efforts, lost steam after Afghan President Hamid Karzai argued over the name of a Taliban political office that opened in Qatar.
The office was eventually closed but several Taliban have remained behind in Qatar.
A US official said they were considering a prisoner exchange but would not comment on whether any new talks have taken place.
The official, who has been closely involved with this issue and has knowledge of previous talks with the Taliban, refused to give more details.
State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf would not confirm the efforts.
"We are not currently involved in active negotiations with the Taliban," Harf said on Wednesday.
"Clearly if negotiations do resume at some point with the Taliban, then we would want to talk with them about the safe return of Sergeant Bergdahl."
In Kabul, a senior Afghan official said the US has recently been in touch with Karzai's government over a possible exchange involving Berdahl, who was captured on June 30, 2009.
The five Taliban detainees are not among those Guantanamo Bay prisoners who have been approved for transfer once their home countries provide security guarantees.
The transfer process, once it has begun, would take about two months, a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
It was not clear where the five Taliban prisoners would go if released from Guantanamo Bay.
Karzai has demanded that they be transferred to Afghanistan.
The Taliban want them released to Qatar, suggesting they could be helpful with the peace process.
The senior Taliban official said leaders of the movement "are serious about the prisoners' issue".
He said the talks were held through an intermediary and did not involve direct discussions with US officials.
He refused to give more details and spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not have Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar's permission to talk to the media.
