Free Republic

In an effort to find illegal work and settle permanently in America, at least 44 Afghan troops visiting the US for military training have gone missing since January 2015, Pentagon officials said. It raises concerns about procedures for such programs. Eight Afghan troops have left military bases without authorization since September alone, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told Reuters, disclosing the total number of Afghan troops who have gone missing for the first time. “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...

Several Afghan nationals undergoing military training in the United States disappeared from U.S. military bases this month, according to Pentagon and Homeland Security officials. “During the month of September, seven Afghan students were considered absent without leave (AWOL) during international military student programs,” Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Patrick L. Evans said. Three of the Afghan military trainees fled from a Pentagon training program two weekends ago during the bombing spree in New York and New Jersey by Afghan-born bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami, raising concerns among security officials that the missing Afghan students may be linked to terrorism or plans for attacks...

More than half a dozen military trainees from Afghanistan have disappeared over the course of about two weeks. They were training at U.S. bases, including Fort Gordon in Augusta and Fort Benning near Columbus. “It’s concerning and legitimately so,” Georgia State University security and counterterrorism expert Robert Friedmann said. Seven trainees went AWOL from bases so far this month. Friedmann says he doesn’t think the timing is a coincidence. “It's fairly likely that it was coordinated, because that's too much of a coincidence,” he said.

Seven Afghan students in U.S. military programs went absent without leave or AWOL this month, including two from Fort Benning. Patrick Evans, the Commander of the U.S. Navy Defense Press Operations confirms that four went AWOL over the Labor Day weekend - the two from Fort Benning, one from Fort Lee, VA and one from Little Rock, AR.

The Obama Administration has notified Hawker Beechcraft Corp. that its Beechcraft AT-6 has been excluded from competition to build a light attack aircraft, a contract worth nearly $1 billion, the company said. The company had hoped to its AT-6, an armed version of its T-6 trainer, would be chosen for the Light Air Support Counter Insurgency aircraft for the Afghanistan National Army Corps. The chosen aircraft also would be used as a light attack armed reconnaissance aircraft for the U.S. Air Force. The piston planes are designed for counterinsurgency, close air support, armed overwatch and homeland security, The Wichita Eagle...