‘Unacceptably High’ Number of Afghans Flee Military Training in US

‘Unacceptably High’ Number of Afghans Flee Military Training in US
Afghan commandos prepare to launch mortar shells on an ISIS terrorist stronghold in Achin district of Nangarhar, eastern Afghanistan on April 14, 2017. NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/AFP/Getty Images
|Updated:

KABUL—Afghan soldiers and police brought to the United States for training go “absent without leave” at far higher rates than those of any other country, potentially imperilling efforts to assist Afghan security forces, a U.S. watchdog said on Friday.

Of the 320 foreign military trainees who left while on courses in the United States from 2005 to 2017, 152 - or more than 47 percent - were Afghans, said a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).