Afghan pilots go missing from US air force base

[AfghanSoulja]

Afghan pilots go missing from US air force base

Seventeen Afghan pilots training at a US military base have gone missing over the past two years, prompting fears of a potential terror threat.

The officers went AWOL from an English language course.

Security officials said several had been arrested and deported but others remain at large.


Foreign nationals seeking US pilot training face strict visa conditions and FBI background checks under controls imposed after 9/11.

Four of the pilots involved in the 2001 suicide attacks, including ringleader Mohammed Atta, learnt to fly at schools in Florida

The missing Afghans had been at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio in Texas, where they were enrolled in a language class for foreign military students.


The Defence Language Institute at the base provides intensive English classes for more than 3,000 overseas members of the military.


Each of the missing pilots was issued with an ID card that provides access to secure military installations.


The last pilot to go missing was First Lieutenant Javed Aryan, who failed to show up for classes in January.


Law enforcement officials said the missing Afghans were being treated as an immigration rather than a security threat


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...#ixzz0rGYAAtkc


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...#ixzz0rGXv8fdw

[IamDZJ]

i guess there is no pleasure left in serving afghans in afghanistan as pilots. instead let's run around in foreign countries with out a visa.. health insurance and a decent job. sadder than that is the fact that they can't be blamed either.

[AfghanSoulja]

they ran away in US not Afghanistan, and we dont have an airforce..we lost soe 200+ fighters during the invasion..and you know something funny, they were all destroyed on the ground..they never got to fly

Anyways back to these guys, there can be two reasons why they ran away

1. It is said that this is being seen as an "immigration" issue and that this has been going on for two years. So most likely these guys came to US and then didnt want to go back to Afghanistan. They thought that they could make a life for themselves here, and tried to wing it..maybe some of them succeeded in passing as mexicans and looking at their comrades running away successfully, others followed suit

2. These pilots got threatened by taliban, there families were still in Afghanistan and taliban could have easily used their blackmail tactics to make these guys desert their training

In my opinion first is the most likely reason. It is dissapointing to say the least, Afghan Army's air corps are the main defence against the taliban and this is the only thing taliban would fear the most.. A capable enough air arm would be disastrous for the talibs so they have to try whatever they can to mess up this training, and its much easier and much more advantageous to do so while the soldiers are still learning their ABCs

[IamDZJ]

hi
for those of you who haven't stumbled upon that piece of information yet : THEY WENT MISSING IN USA NOT IN AFGHANISTAN.

[IamDZJ]

we need people who are honest and to the point with themselves. if we slave around with as much of dedication for our own country as we do for others, there wouldn't be a need for this.
what we need is an intelligent and selfless yet strictly cruel dictator who could burn people alive for treachery in front of the rest to learn lessons from...

[IamDZJ]

what does religion have to do with it?

[AfghanSoulja]

There is zero infrastructure for any kind of Airforce training inside Afghanistan right now..All the bases have been hogged by the NATO, there isn't a single airstrip available..The soldiers that have been sent to US for training can't even get their names straight in English, how are they supposed to learn anything..Add to that the looming possibility of a US withdrawal, even the pilots who were willing to take a shot are second guessing their career choice..I don't blame them, what would be the point of doing all this if it's going to be 1990 all over again..And these men are being only trained to fly choppers, something the Taliban will have no difficulty shooting down..If the US can give F-16s to Iraq then why are we getting only some rusty old choppers

The best possible solution for fixing up the air arm would have been to dig up all the old pilots and use them as a training base to start an indigenous training process..The guy who was the crown jewl ( even though a fake one ) of Afghan airforce has been banished to Germany to lead the distinguished career of a common Afghan Immigrant, when a guy like him should have been spearheading this campaign