Three senior military officers from Afghanistan have been reported missing from Camp Edwards Joint Base in Cape Cod. The soldiers were at there to participate in Regional Cooperation 2014, a 7-10 day training exercise that has been “held annually since 2004, includes five different nations and has more than 200 participants.”
Via CBS Boston:
The soldiers were last seen at Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis and were reported missing by base security on Saturday night. The three soldiers are MAJ Jan Mohammad Arash, CPT Mohammad Nasir Askarzada, and CPT Noorullah Aminyar.
Central Command, Massachusetts State Police and local police are involved in the search for the soldiers.
The Massachusetts National Guard are saying that the officers pose no threat to the public, but the fact that they’ve gone AWOL is more than a little concerning.
Insider attacks – Afghanis turning against coalition troops – have been an ongoing nightmare for NATO’s International Security Assistance Forces.
In August, a man believed to be an Afghan soldier killed U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Harold Greene and shot several others at a military training facility in Kabul.
Sometimes the perps are Islamic militants disguised as Afghan security forces, but most are actual Afghan soldiers or police officers who have turned against the coalition.
Boston.com reports that “earlier this month, two Afghan police officers who were training with the DEA vanished while on a trip to Washington. The police officers were located and will be returning to Afghanistan.”
There are 200 people from six nations participating in the exercise, including 15 officers and senior enlisted personnel from Afghanistan. The annual exercise is held by US Central Command.
“Not all 200 people are locked down on base,” Sahady told Boston.com. At some points during their stay, participants are cleared to leave for dinner or to participate in activities off base without restrictions, he said.
The three men were last seen at a Cape Cod mall in Hyannis, Saturday night.
UPDATE:
Breitbart National Security: FIVE AFGHAN NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICERS WHO VANISHED WHILE TRAINING IN US LOCATED
On Monday, they were taken into custody after attempting to cross the border into Canada.
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On September 19, ABC7 News (WJLA-TV) revealed that the two Afghan policemen, who had been missing in the D.C. area for about a week, had been found. They were identified as Mohammad Yasin Ataye and Mohd Gnawed Samimi, and were part of a group of 31 Afghan nationals who were participating in a DEA drug trafficking training program at Quantico, Virginia. They vanished while sightseeing in Georgetown under the supervision of the DEA.
The DEA told ABC7 News that the pair decided to leave because they did not want to return to their home country. They were sent back to Afghanistan, along with the other 31 Afghans.
Nice Deb 