This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who has been held by insurgents in Pakistan since 2009. Extremely sensitive discussions are under way with intermediaries overseas to see if there is any ability to gain his release, a U.S. official told CNN on February 19. 
A North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence in May. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November 2012. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN. 
Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority. 
Warren Weinstein, a contractor held by al Qaeda militants, is a U.S. citizen who has been held hostage in Pakistan since August 2011. 
U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport Saturday, December 7, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained October 26 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman says the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency. 
An Iranian court threw out a death penalty conviction in 2012 for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he still remains in solitary confinement at Iran's notorious Evin Prison. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother; his family and the Obama administration deny accusations that he was spying for the CIA. 
Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, on May 22, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released on Friday, May 31, and is back in the United States. 
Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013, accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches. 
North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton. 
Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner. 
Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. 
Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul. 
Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted. 
Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security. 
Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release. 
Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial. 
Freelance reporter James Foley went missing in November 2012 after his car was stopped by gunmen in Syria. He is likely being held by the Syrian government, according to the GlobalPost, an online international news outlet to which he contributed, and Foley's brother. 
Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June.
- Official: U.S. diplomats had been carrying out "extremely sensitive discussions"
- Taliban points to "current complex political situation"
- Bergdahl has been held by insurgents in Pakistan since 2009
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban says it is suspending talks with the United States to exchange Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- the only American soldier held as a captive -- for five Taliban prisoners.
U.S. diplomats had been carrying out "extremely sensitive discussions" with Taliban intermediaries, a U.S. official told CNN on Tuesday.
The Taliban said the discussions were taking place in Qatar, where the group opened an office last year.
However, on Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent a statement saying the group has called for the talks to be suspended.
"The leadership of the Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend the process for some time due to the current complex political situation in the country," the statement said. "The process will remain suspended without the exchange of the prisoners until our decision to resume."
Mujahid did not say what "complex political situation" the statement referred to.
Bergdahl has been held by insurgents in Pakistan since 2009.
Negotiating with terrorists
American officials are adamant they have never given up on trying to get Bergdahl back and resist calling the current effort "renewed" discussions. But driving the current effort, according to the U.S. official, is Bergdahl's poor health and concern a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan at year's end would essentially close the door an any rescue attempt.
The United States has long declared that it won't negotiate with terrorists, which is what it considers the Taliban. However, "We have a history of being able to dance pretty effectively along the edges of the declaration," said retired Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks, a CNN military analyst.
Opinion: Should the U.S. negotiate with terrorists?
Possible obstacle
One possible obstacle to securing his release is what may be asked in return. The Taliban has long demanded the release of five detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- but another U.S. official said releasing them would be difficult because Congress would have to be notified in advance, and lawmakers have previously resisted releasing them.
Van Hipp, who served as a deputy assistant Army secretary under former President George H.W. Bush, said that trading Guantanamo inmates for Bergdahl would put at risk "every American soldier deployed all over the world."
"We are sending the message to terrorist organizations all over the world that it's OK to capture an American soldier -- that America will deal with you," said Hipp, now a defense consultant in Washington.
"I think we need to give the green light to the special ops and let them do their jobs quietly and methodically, as they have done so well in the past," he added.
Who is Bowe Bergdahl?
Fits and starts
In May 2012, the U.S. government acknowledged that it had been engaged in talks with the Taliban to free Bergdahl, but those talks moved in fits and starts because of U.S. concerns that any Taliban prisoners swapped for the sergeant might be repatriated and allowed to rejoin the fight.
Bergdahl, of Wood River Valley, Idaho, appeared in diminished health in a video that the U.S. military obtained in January. His family also received a letter from him last year via the Red Cross.
The United States believes one route to getting Bergdahl back may be through Qatari officials, who have been talking to the Taliban. But Bergdahl is believed to be held by operatives from the Haqqani network, an insurgent force affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda -- and it was not clear whether Haqqani operatives would abide by any agreement among the United States, Qatar and the Taliban.
CNN's Matt Smith and Barbara Starr contributed to this report
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