A member of an American military team missing in Afghan mountains since last week has been rescued.
US forces are now searching for other members of the group still unaccounted for.
The rescued American serviceman was taken Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a US Defence Department official said.
He declined to say when the rescue occurred or provide other details, including reaction to specific reports that the team consisted of three US Navy Seals.
The small special operations unit was reported missing last Tuesday in mountains in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan, setting off an extensive US military search.
A rescue effort the same day ended in tragedy when a transport helicopter seeking to extract the team was shot down, killing 16 troops aboard. It was the deadliest single blow yet to US forces, who ousted the Taliban in 2001.
The deaths brought to 45 the number of US forces killed in Afghanistan over the last three months as a revitalised Taliban has stepped up its insurgency ahead of fall elections.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed last week that militants had captured one member of the team and said he was a "high-ranking American" caught in the same area as where the helicopter went down, but he refused to elaborate.
AP