'I'll kick my son in the backside'

The father of an American captured while fighting for the Taliban says he wants to give his son a big hug - "before kicking him in the backside".

Frank Lindh told of his shock at seeing pictures of his son, bedraggled and bearded, being led away after fierce fighting at a fortress near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

John Walker, 20, was wounded and suffering from starvation. He was one of about 80 Taliban supporters to survive a vicious, week-long battle.

San Francisco lawyer Mr Lindh said on the Larry King Live show: "It really defies description. To think our son, he's really not much more than a boy, what he went through, this horrible experience, the prison and God knows what leading up to that."

Shortly after his capture Walker said that he had received combat training at a camp in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden appeared several times. His family thought he was studying Arabic in Pakistan after converting to Islam at 16.