Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, the United States Airforce and the Georgia police began the search for two missing Afghan trainees. Their absence was discovered after they failed to attend a training at Moody Air Force Base in southern Georgia on Monday.

The trainees have been stationed at Moody Air Force Base (AFB) since February. All the trainees were vetted and screened before coming into the U.S. a year ago, according to Moody AFB.

The trainees have been infused into the ways of the American military culture for the past year and pose no threat to the citizens of the United States. Federal agencies are coordinating with the local police department to find the trainees and return them to the authorities responsible for handling their situation.

An official from the Defense Department has repeated that the missing trainees in Georgia are of no threat. He added that the U.S.-based training is intense and sometimes foreign service members forget to obtain proper authorization before leaving the base.

However, according to officials, after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, last week there has been some doubt in the Georgia residents who live near the base. The people in the area have been reassured that the military and law enforcement are looking for these Afghan soldiers.

According to the Air Force and the Defense Department, the Afghan soldiers were attending maintenance classes at Moody AFB and these men are part of the 81st Fighter Squadron. The base is 30 miles from the Florida border.

Officials have reported that in September 2014, three soldiers from the Afghan National Army went missing during an exercise in Cape Cod. Later, these men were found attempting to cross the Canadian border. At the time, officials thought the men feared a return to Afghanistan.

Headliner’s Today will provide updates as they become available.

By Jeanette Smith

Source:

NBS News: Two Afghan Trainees Missing From Air Force Base in Georgia
Image Courtesy of DVIDSHUB’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License