Missing soldiers found near Canadian border

KABUL (Pajhwok): Three Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers, who had gone missing from a US military training base in Massachusetts, were found on Monday trying to cross the Canadian border.

The Afghans reportedly presented themselves to security personnel at a checkpoint at a border crossing near Niagara Falls, New York, the Massachusetts State police said.

The police said they were notified on Monday morning by federal law enforcement that the three missing soldiers had been located at a border checkpoint by Niagara Falls.

The three unarmed soldiers reportedly went missing from Joint Base Cape Cod after a Saturday trip to a nearby mall.

Major Jan Mohammad Arash, Captain Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Captain Noorullah Aminyar have been taken into custody and being interviewed.

The men, part of a group of 200 soldiers from six nations participating in the exercise, were in the country legally and had broken no laws by failing to return to the base, American officials said. However, it is not clear if the three soldiers will be deported to Afghanistan. 

Defence Ministry deputy spokesman Gen. Dawlat Waziri told Pajhwok Afghan News in Kabul that they came to know about the incident through media and that they had launched their investigation into the matter.

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