BOSTON (Reuters) - Three Afghan National Army soldiers who did not return to a U.S. military base in Massachusetts where they were being trained may be seeking to defect to the United States, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Monday, according to local media.
The three soldiers were reported missing from Joint Base Cape Cod, located in a beach resort area, after a Saturday trip to a nearby mall and are not viewed as a security threat, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts National Guard, which helps run the facility.
The men were not armed and had no access to weapons during their training, officials said.
"There's a lot of speculation within the military that they may be trying to defect," Patrick told reporters, according to the Boston Herald.
Officials at Patrick's office did not respond to a request for comment.
U.S. military officials are trying to find the three soldiers, Major Jan Mohammad Arash, Captain Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Captain Noorullah Aminyar, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command.
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, the spokeswoman said.
(Reporting by Scott Malone)
