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, said Pentagon officials.
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 programmes.
They are also potentially embarrassing for US 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.
While other foreign troops on US military training visits have sometimes run away, a US 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 authorisation, said Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump. 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 US and going AWOL,” Stump said.
Afghans in the US training programme 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, said Stump.
A defense official said there was no evidence any of those who had absconded had carried out crimes or posed a threat to the US.
