3 Afghan Soldiers Go Missing in Massachusetts

They came to US for training exercise
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Suggested by bermbits
Posted Sep 22, 2014 6:26 AM CDT
Updated Sep 22, 2014 7:56 AM CDT
3 Afghan Soldiers Go Missing in Massachusetts
Afghan National Army soldiers stand at attention during their graduation ceremony at the Kabul Military Training Center, Afghanistan, on June 1, 2014. ANA has 195,000 troops, according to NATO.   (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

Three Afghan soldiers have gone missing during a two-week training exercise in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports. Maj. Jan Mohammad Arash, Capt. Mohammad Nasir Askarzada, and Capt. Noorullah Aminyar, who were last seen Saturday at a mall on Cape Cod, are senior officers in Afghanistan's military. Their stay in the US had been approved by the State Department. Federal, state, and local law enforcement are looking for the men, who had been staying at Camp Edwards on the cape.

Some 200 people from six countries were attending the exercise, a Massachusetts National Guard spokesman tells the Globe, and "not all 200 people are locked down on base." They're allowed to leave for various activities, including dinner. The program has been running yearly for a decade, WHDH reports. The missing men aren't currently considered a threat, NBC News reports. The Globe notes that two Afghan policemen training in the US also went missing in Virginia last week before being found in Buffalo, NY; they may have been visiting a relative there, as CBS News reports. (Meanwhile, Afghanistan finally has a new president.)

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