Great news: 17 Afghan military members are AWOL in the US

posted at 11:39 am on June 18, 2010 by
[ Homeland Security ]   

The Jawa Report brings us a Fox News exclusive that is sure to make you sleep better at night. 17 members of the Afghan military were here in the United States being taught to learn English… and they’ve now disappeared. They’ve gone AWOL, and doesn’t that just make you feel safe?

A nationwide alert has been issued for 17 members of the Afghan military who have gone AWOL from a Texas Air Force base where foreign military officers who are training to become pilots are taught English, FoxNews.com has learned.

The Afghan officers and enlisted men have security badges that give them access to secure U.S. defense installations, according to the lookout bulletin, “Afghan Military Deserters in CONUS [Continental U.S.],” issued by Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Dallas, and obtained by FoxNews.com[...]

Each Afghan was issued a Department of Defense Common Access Card, an identification card used to gain access to secure military installations, with which they “could attempt to enter DOD installations,” according to the bulletin. Base security officers were encouraged to disseminate the bulletin to their personnel.

“I can confirm that 17 have gone missing from the Defense Language Institute,” said Gary Emery, Chief of Public Affairs, 37th Training Wing, at Lackland AFB. “They disappeared over the course of the last two years, and none in the last three months.”

That’s just great. We’ve got Afghanis running around this country somewhere who have access to our military bases, and God knows what their intentions are. And apparently, their visas are just now in the process of being revoked. Two years later.

Oh, and these seventeen have apparently been going AWOL one by one over the past two years, and the military is just now putting out a bulletin saying that this could be a problem. Seriously — the Be On The Lookout bulletin was distributed Wednesday night. TWO YEARS LATER.

And let’s not jump to possible terrorism or anything. This is just an illegal immigration problem. Nothing to see here, move along…

A senior law enforcement official said Friday that the Afghans’ disappearance was more of an immigration violation than a security threat, saying there are no “strong indications to any terrorism nexus or impending threat.”

Right. We’re fighting a war in Afghanistan, and 17 Afghan members of the Afghan military are currently AWOL in the CONUS, and they have access to DoD installations. What kind of possible terrorist threat could come from that?!

Welcome to the new Obama version of homeland security. Don’t you just feel so much safer??

Here are the names on the alert. If you see any of these people, contact the FBI or your local law enforcement.

Abdul Ghani Barakzai, born 8/8/1977

Mohd Ali Karimi, born 9/3/1982

Mohammad Nasim Fateh Zada, born 12/4/1966

Aminullah Sangarwal, born 8/27/1982

Mohd Ahmadi, born 5/5/1978

Ahad Abdulahad, born 5/5/1984

Sayed Qadir Shah Habiby, born 5/7/1985

Javed Aryan a.k.a. Aryan Javed, born 1/1/1987

Mirwais Qassmi, born 4/24/1974

Barsat Noorani, born 6/3/1981

Atiqullah Habibi, two dates of birth are listed on the alert: 6/2/1982 and 7/2/1982

Ahmad Sameer Samar, born 5/2/1983

Mohamed Fahim Faqier, born 6/1/1987

Obaiddullah Abrahimy, born 8/1/1979

Sayed Nasir Hashimi, born 4/5/1972

Shawali Kakar, born 12/31/1979

Khan Padshah Amiri, born 4/1/1978

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“They disappeared over the course of the last two years, and none in the last three months.”

This baffles me. They were in the U.S. specifically for the purpose of learning English and they were doing it on a military base.

How is it two years later someone looks up and realizes that they’ve all just gradually gone AWOL? Wouldn’t they have been in contact with at least one person who might have asked “Hey, Sayed didn’t show up today, and hasn’t for a month…could be something wrong …” ?

Heralder on June 18, 2010 at 11:47 AM

Obama: The authorities have been instructed not to engage in profiling while looking for these AWOL Afghanis, so as they search, they will be checking the IDs of white people, Asians, and Hispanics, too.

Daggett on June 18, 2010 at 12:13 PM

And I’m wondering if that Texas Air Force base might just be located in a major city like San Antonio. Where depending on how they dress and where they hang out, they might be able to pass for another group of sometimes illegal aliens. Remember our jihadis in New Jersey? One had an hispanic surname. Notice how quickly that one got swept under the rug. I lived in El Paso before and during the Shah’s takedown in Iran. We had many Iranians attending UTEP at the time. They made a point of hanging out with the Mexican-American students. I think we need to start considering the fact that not all our possible threats are going to be hanging out in Pakistani neighborhoods.

texabama on June 18, 2010 at 12:24 PM

I am not, yet, bothered too much by this. An AWOL soldier showing his credentials at a DOD facility would basically be surrendering himself. I can also understand them going AWOL. If I was an Afghani and was brought to the US to learn english, I might just go AWOL to, before being shipped back to that festering pustule. Heck, the worst slums in the US would look like paradise.

percysunshine on June 19, 2010 at 3:35 PM

One last thing. There is no context. 17 out of how many over the past couple years? 17 out of 50 sounds like alot. 17 out of 3,000…not so much.

percysunshine on June 19, 2010 at 3:39 PM