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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is praising U.S. special operations forces, including one who was killed in action, for the rescue of an American citizen who was being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Obama says the mission was characteristic of U.S. troops' "extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism."

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Dr. Dilip Joseph of Colorado Springs, Colo., was rescued Sunday in eastern Afghanistan. Joseph was abducted by the Taliban five days earlier.

In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the "fallen hero, and all of our special operators" represent the "highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service."