Brig. Gen. Muhaiuddin Ghori, commanding general, 3rd Kandak, 205th Corps, Afghan National Army, maneuvers alongside a Marine fire team on patrol at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton
Reuters - Forty-four
Afghan troops visiting the United States for military training have gone
missing in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work
illegally
in America, Pentagon officials said.
Although the
number of disappearances is relatively small -- some 2,200 Afghan troops have
received military training in the United States since 2007 -- the incidents
raise questions about security and screening procedures for the programs.
They are also potentially
embarrassing for U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which has spent
billions of dollars training Afghan troops as Washington seeks to extricate
itself from the costly, 15-year-old war. The disclosure could fuel criticism by
supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has accused the
Obama administration of failing to properly vet immigrants from Muslim-majority
countries and has pledged a much tougher stance if he wins.
While other
foreign troops on U.S. military training visits have sometimes run away, a U.S.
defense official said that the frequency of Afghan troops going missing was
concerning and "out of the ordinary."
Since
September alone, eight Afghan troops have left military bases without
authorization, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told Reuters. He said the total
number of Afghan troops who have gone missing since January 2015 is 44, a
number that has not previously been disclosed.
"The
Defense Department is assessing ways to strengthen eligibility criteria for
training in ways that will reduce the likelihood of an individual Afghan
willingly absconding from training in the U.S. and going AWOL (absent without
leave)," Stump said.
Afghans in the
U.S. training program are vetted to ensure they have not participated in human
rights abuses and are not affiliated with militant groups before being allowed
into the United States, Stump said.
The defense
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added there was no evidence any
of those who had absconded had carried out crimes or posed a threat to the
United States.
The Afghan
army has occasionally been infiltrated by Taliban militants who have carried
out attacks on Afghan and U.S. troops, but such incidents have become less
frequent due to tougher security measures.
Trump, whose
other signature immigration plan is to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border,
has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims seeking to enter the country, and has
said that law enforcement officers should engage in more racial profiling to
curb the threat of attacks on American soil.
After Omar
Mateen, whose father was born in Afghanistan, killed 49 people at a gay
nightclub in Orlando in June, Trump said an immigration ban would last until
"we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our
country."
BILLIONS OF
DOLLARS IN TRAINING
Washington has
allocated more than $60 billion since 2002 to train and equip Afghan troops,
but security remains precarious and the Taliban are estimated to control more
territory in Afghanistan than at any time since 2001 when the U.S. invaded.
Earlier this
year Obama shelved plans to cut the U.S. force in Afghanistan nearly in half by
year's end, opting instead to keep 8,400 troops there through the end of his
presidency in January.
The military
training program brings troops to the United States from around the world in
order to build on military relations and improve capabilities for joint
operations.
In some cases,
officials said, the Afghan students who went missing were in the United States
for elite Army Ranger School and intelligence-gathering training. The officials
did not identify the missing troops or their rank.
Even though
the troops were in the United States for military training, they were not
necessarily always on a military base.
If students
under the military program are absent from training for more than 24 hours,
they are considered to be "absent without leave" (AWOL) and the
Department of Homeland Security is notified.
In one case
the Pentagon confirmed that an Afghan student had been detained by Canadian
police while attempting to enter Canada from the United States.
It was unclear
how many others have been located by U.S. authorities, and the Department of
Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Experts said
low morale and insufficient training to fight the Taliban could explain the
troops leaving, in addition to a dearth of economic opportunities in the
impoverished country.
"They
face a formidable enemy, with very limited resources and many Afghan troops
aren't getting paid on time,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at
the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think-tank.
Reuters
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