“Allah gave victory to the mujahideen!” one of the fighters exclaims. “Down with them, down with their spies!” 
 
 A link to the video was posted this week on the Twitter account of a user who often disseminates Taliban propaganda. A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the dog was captured after a long firefight between coalition forces and Taliban fighters in the Alin Nigar district of Afghanistan’s Laghman province in late December. 
 
 “The mujahideen valorously put tough resistance against the troops for hours,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. The dog, he said, carries the rank of colonel and was outfitted with sophisticated electronic devices. 
 
 “The dog was of high significance to the Americans,” he said. 
 
 Lt. Col. Will Griffin, a spokesman for the international military coalition in Afghanistan, confirmed Thursday in an e-mail that the force lost a military working dog during an operation in December. He did not provide further details. Officials at the Pentagon said they could recall no prior instance of a military working dog being taken captive. 
 
 The canine was attached to a British special forces unit that was engaged in a fatal firefight on Dec. 23, according to a military official who confirmed the nationality of the dog on the condition of anonymity because the British Defense Ministry has chosen not to do so. 
 
 Also featured in the video are two M-4 assault rifles with scopes that are commonly used by special operations forces in Afghanistan. 
 
 The video caught the attention of analysts at the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks and studies insurgent propaganda. The group’s founder, Rita Katz, said she could not recall anything like it. 
 
 “I don’t remember seeing a dog used as a hostage,” she said after checking her database. The only time canines were featured in insurgent propaganda, Katz said, was in Iraq when insurgents once proposed using them as unsuspecting suicide bombers. 
 
 U.S. Special Operations troops often use the Belgian Malinois, a breed favored for its light weight, agility and endurance. They are trained to parachute and rappel with their handlers. Some are trained to sniff out explosives; others learn how to find narcotics. In Afghanistan, canines are often used to search compounds that might be rigged with explosives before humans move in. 
 
 The use of dogs in combat missions has been one of the grievances Afghan President Hamid Karzai has raised with his foreign benefactors. Many Muslims hold a dim view of canines and worry that being around the animals makes them impure — thus unfit to pray. 
 
 Few Afghans keep them as pets, although many groom the animals for dogfighting, a popular gambling sport that was banned by the Taliban but has become popular again. 
 
 Military working dogs have been killed in bombings and shootings in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
 
 “Maybe the dog was released to attack or search off-leash and the dog never returned,” said Kevin Dredden, a former Air Force dog handler and Afghanistan veteran who works as a program manager at AMK9, a firm that trains dogs to work with law enforcement and military units. “Maybe it was unsafe for them to go back and find him.” 
 
 One thing is certain, Dredden said. 
 
 “I know for sure the handler is devastated,” he said, noting the tight bonds that handlers and military dogs forge. 
 
 Dogs are given ranks that make them senior to their handlers, a practice designed to ensure that the humans treat the animals with deference. They have a rank patch on their body armor. 
 
 When President Obama visited Fort Campbell, Ky., to thank the elite troops who found and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, the name of only one of the special operators was disclosed: Cairo, the team’s Belgian Malinois. 
 
 Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul contributed to this report. ||||| Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have released video purportedly showing a captured allied soldier -- a dog soldier that is, believed by Pentagon officials to be a British military service pup captured during a raid last December. 
 
 The doleful hound, believed to be a Belgian Malinois named "Colonel," appears held by a chain on a video released on the website of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and was publicized by a Tweet boasted of a Dec. 23 operation that in which "6 US terrorists" were killed and "equip seized." Pentagon officials told Fox News they believe the dog is actually a British military service dog, not an American canine. 
 
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 "We can confirm that a military working dog went missing following an ISAF mission in December, 2013," the U.S.-led International Assistance Security Force said in a statement. "It is ISAF policy to defer identification to the appropriate national authorities." 
 
 Video of equip. seized on 23-12-13 operation which killed 6 US terrorists in Alingar district (#Laghman) http://t.co/27GCZmdyAO 
 
 — Abdulqahar Balkhi (@ABalkhi) February 6, 2014 
 
 The Taliban-linked website said the dog was wearing a harness with a GPS tracking device, a torch and small camera. In the video, it is seen wearing the equipment as its chain leash is held by a Taliban fighter. Four other armed and bearded Taliban fighters stand nearby around what appears to be a mud and stone terrace. It was unclear when the video was taken or if the dog is still alive. 
 
 Coalition forces have long used sniffer and protection dogs in Afghanistan, mostly German shepherds, Labradors or spaniels. Hundreds have been used by coalition forces in Afghanistan, often for sniffing out bombs. Last year, Army Pfc. Levi Lutrell told the Global Post that dogs are trained to detect detonation cords that are buried to ignite IEDs. 
 
 He said contrary to popular belief, Afghanis do not dislike dogs, and have used them for centuries. 
 
 Fox News' Justin Fishel contributed to this report.
– A new Taliban video shows what might be the world's first canine POW. In the video, the militants claim to have captured a military service dog during a battle with American forces in Afghanistan's Laghman province in December, reports the Washington Post. Both ABC and Fox News quote Pentagon sources as saying the dog actually belongs to another nation in the US-led coalition force, perhaps Britain. The dog is seen on a chain, outfitted with the electronic gear it wore during the raid, say the Taliban. “I don’t remember seeing a dog used as a hostage,” says the founder of the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors such propaganda. The dog is believed to be a Belgian Malinois, a breed favored by special ops troops for its prowess in sniffing out explosives during raids. A spokesman for the coalition force confirms that a dog went missing during a December operation.