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Dozens of Afghan Troops Vanished From Military Training in US Bases

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Brig. Gen. Muhaiuddin Ghori, commanding general, 3rd Kandak, 205th Corps, Afghan National Army, maneuvers alongside a Marine fire team on patrol at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp PendletonForty-four Afghan troops visiting the United States for military training have gone missing in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work illegally in America, Pentagon officials said.

Although the number of disappearances is relatively small -- some 2,200 Afghan troops have received military training in the United States since 2007 -- the incidents raise questions about security and screening procedures for the programs.

They are also potentially embarrassing for U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which has spent billions of dollars training Afghan troops as Washington seeks to extricate itself from the costly, 15-year-old war. The disclosure could fuel criticism by supporters of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has accused the Obama administration of failing to properly vet immigrants from Muslim-majority countries and has pledged a much tougher stance if he wins.

While other foreign troops on U.S. military training visits have sometimes run away, a U.S. defense official said that the frequency of Afghan troops going missing was concerning and "out of the ordinary."

Since September alone, eight Afghan troops have left military bases without authorization, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told Reuters. He said the total number of Afghan troops who have gone missing since January 2015 is 44, a number that has not previously been disclosed.

"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 in the U.S. and going AWOL (absent without leave)," Stump said.

Afghans in the U.S. training program are vetted to ensure they have not participated in human rights abuses and are not affiliated with militant groups before being allowed into the United States, Stump said.

The defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added there was no evidence any of those who had absconded had carried out crimes or posed a threat to the United States.

The Afghan army has occasionally been infiltrated by Taliban militants who have carried out attacks on Afghan and U.S. troops, but such incidents have become less frequent due to tougher security measures.

Trump, whose other signature immigration plan is to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, has proposed a temporary ban on Muslims seeking to enter the country, and has said that law enforcement officers should engage in more racial profiling to curb the threat of attacks on American soil.

After Omar Mateen, whose father was born in Afghanistan, killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June, Trump said an immigration ban would last until "we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country."

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Pakistan: IEA must prevent US weapons from reaching terrorists

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Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has once again expressed concern over the potential for terrorist groups to access weapons left behind by the United States in Afghanistan.

Speaking in a news conference, Pakistan's spokesperson for the foreign ministry Shafqat Ali Khan urged the leaders of the Islamic Emirate not to allow the weapons left by the US to fall into the hands of terrorists, as this would create serious security concerns for both Pakistan and the region.

"Regarding the issue of weapons left behind in Afghanistan, it should be noted that Afghan officials are responsible for ensuring that, under no circumstances, such weapons fall into the hands of terrorist groups. This is a significant concern for the countries of the region, and we continue to call for increased attention to this matter,” said Shafqat Ali Khan.

Currently, the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan do not appear to be very positive. However, some experts believe that a unified stance must be created between the countries in the region to combat terrorism.

Earlier, the Islamic Emirate has described such concerns as baseless and repeatedly stated that all US weapons and military equipment left behind are secured by the government, with no group or individual having access to them.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have always been tense since IEA’s takeover, particularly regarding the issue of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistan claims that this group plans and carries out attacks from Afghan soil against Pakistan.

However, the Islamic Emirate has repeatedly rejected Pakistan's accusations, calling them baseless.

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ICC arrest warrant request for IEA’s supreme leader has no legal basis: Foreign Ministry

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The International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants for Mawlawi Hebatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, has no “fair legal basis” and it is “politically motivated”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

On Thursday, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said he had applied for arrest warrants for the two IEA figures in Afghanistan, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.

The Foreign Ministry, however, said in a statement on Friday that the charges brought by the prosecutor were baseless.

"Nationwide security in Afghanistan is ensured, people breathe a sigh of relief, private prisons, kidnappings, warlords’ islands of power, many other forms of discontent and inhuman acts have been eliminated," the statement said.

"It is regrettable that this institution (ICC) has turned a blind eye to the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by foreign forces and their domestic allies during the 20 years of occupation of Afghanistan," the statement said.

"This misconduct further undermines the weak credibility of the institution and makes its position at the international level completely meaningless," the statement said. “This institution should not try to impose a particular interpretation of human rights on the entire world and ignore the religious and national values ​​of people in other parts of the world.”

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Trump says ‘Afghanistan disaster’ would not happen with him in power

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In his first interview since returning to the White House, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that if he remained in power for the past four years, the "Afghanistan disaster" would not have happened.

In an interview with Fox News at the White House, Trump also said that with him in power, there would be no inflation in the United States, no massive Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and no war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump said that his political comeback proves the policies and philosophies of the "radical left" throughout the past four years are "horrible" and "don't work."

The president said there were thousands of terrorists and tens of thousands of murderers living in the United States.

He added that the murderers had been released from jails in other countries before entering the United States.

"If I were the president or prime minister or something of another country, I would empty my jails right into America, into the United States. Why not?" Trump said.

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