3 Missing Afghan Soldiers Turn Up at Canadian Border
Three Afghan soldiers in the United States on a training exercise were located Monday at a Canadian border crossing near Niagara Falls, two days after disappearing from a Massachusetts shopping mall, officials said Monday.
The soldiers were taken into custody at the Rainbow Bridge crossing, the authorities said. There was some speculation that the three were trying to defect.
The soldiers were among 12 Afghan military personnel participating in the annual United States Central Command Regional Cooperation training exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod, a Department of Defense spokesman said.
Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the three Afghans had slipped away on Saturday from American military personnel and other Afghan soldiers who had accompanied them while on a cultural tour at Cape Cod Mall.
Colonel Warren said there was “no indication they pose any threat to the public.”
The three men, identified as Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar, had been vetted before coming to the United States, the Pentagon said.
The annual military training exercise is intended to promote cooperation among military forces from various nations, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The episode was the second time in about a week that visiting Afghan security personnel have been missing in the United States, a Defense Department official said.
A week ago, two police officers training with the Drug Enforcement Agency at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia disappeared for two days, until they were found in the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, where they had been visiting as part of a cultural tour.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/missing-afghan-soldiers-are-found-at-canadian-border.html?_r=0
Three Afghan soldiers in the United States on a training exercise were located Monday at a Canadian border crossing near Niagara Falls, two days after disappearing from a Massachusetts shopping mall, officials said Monday.
The soldiers were taken into custody at the Rainbow Bridge crossing, the authorities said. There was some speculation that the three were trying to defect.
The soldiers were among 12 Afghan military personnel participating in the annual United States Central Command Regional Cooperation training exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod, a Department of Defense spokesman said.
Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the three Afghans had slipped away on Saturday from American military personnel and other Afghan soldiers who had accompanied them while on a cultural tour at Cape Cod Mall.
Colonel Warren said there was “no indication they pose any threat to the public.”
The three men, identified as Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar, had been vetted before coming to the United States, the Pentagon said.
The annual military training exercise is intended to promote cooperation among military forces from various nations, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.
The episode was the second time in about a week that visiting Afghan security personnel have been missing in the United States, a Defense Department official said.
A week ago, two police officers training with the Drug Enforcement Agency at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia disappeared for two days, until they were found in the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, where they had been visiting as part of a cultural tour.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/missing-afghan-soldiers-are-found-at-canadian-border.html?_r=0
