WASHINGTON (July 3, 2009)--A search is underway in eastern Afghanistan for a soldier who’s evidently held by Taliban insurgents after he walked off his base without his body armor or weapon.

Officials say the military has intercepted communications in which insurgents said they had captured an American, but several officials declined to say whether there has been any direct communications with the insurgents or whether any demands had been made for the return of the soldier.

He's said to be a private first class.

The military has released few details about the abduction.

It's believed to be the first such abduction of a U.S. service member in the nearly eight-year-old war.