Pentagon: "We are doing everything in our power" to find Bowe Bergdahl

This image provided by IntelCenter Wednesday Dec. 8, 2010, shows a framegrab from a new video released by the Taliban containing footage of a man believed to be Spc. Bowe Bergdahl, / AP Photo/IntelCenter

(AP) WASHINGTON - The military and the intelligence community are doing everything possible to find 26-year-old Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was taken prisoner in Afghanistan almost three years ago, Pentagon leaders said Thursday in the aftermath of criticism from the soldier's family.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey

/ AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says there is a poster of the soldier inside U.S. Central Command's operations center as a constant reminder that he is missing in action.

"I can assure you that we are doing everything in our power, using our intelligence resources across the government, to try to find, locate him," Dempsey told reporters at the Pentagon.

He said he has met with Bergdahl's parents in his office and corresponded with them several times.

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Bergdahl's parents went public this week with secret U.S. attempts to trade their son for Taliban prisoners in U.S. hands. They say they are frustrated by what they believe are stalled efforts to free him.

He is the subject of a proposed prisoner swap in which the Obama administration would allow the transfer of five Taliban prisoners long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The proposal has been in limbo for months, however, and faces serious opposition in Congress. The Taliban walked away from talks in March, saying the U.S. had reneged on several promises.

Asked about the swap, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he would take such steps only in accordance with the law, which requires that he ensure that any detainees released from Guantanamo will not return to the battlefield.

"Frankly, there are no decisions that have been made with regards to that," Panetta told reporters.

Officials believe Bergdahl is being held by the Haqqani network, insurgents affiliated with the Taliban, probably in Pakistan.

[JonRyberg]

I guess that is one way to finally get some of the prisoners out of Guantanamo. We put those people there and tortured them for years and now tell the wrold they cannot be released because they are still dangerous and may attack us again. They are right. If I had been taken prisoner, spirited to some strange country to be tortured for information and then transported to a US Navy base that we claim is beyond the jurisdiction of any courts except a military tribunal that we keep changing the rules for; when I was released I would do anything I could to strike back at vile abusers of the Geneva Conventions as well. Some of these people we have admitted can never be brought to trial because we have no evidence against them but still will not release them. We have truly lost any moral high ground the US once had in the world.