Illegal Aliens in the U.S. Assisted Afghan Soldiers Go AWOL

For the Afghan soldiers who have gone AWOL from an Air Force base in Texas, there's no place like Canada.

Since 2002, 46 Afghans have deserted their armed forces while in the U.S. for language and military training. Of those 46, roughly half--at least 22--have found their way north of the border.

They made the trip with the help of a network of people, including Afghans who left Lackland Air Force Base before them; a group of naturalized and undocumented Mexican women in Texas; relatives of current and former Afghan military students living in the West; and at least one Iranian taxi driver who runs a human smuggling business at the Canadian border.

The Afghans who have made it to Canada appear to be living comfortably there -- and many have put themselves on Facebook, where they connect with other Afghan dissenters and active U.S. and Afghan military personnel, including members of the Afghan military currently attending the Defense Language Institute at Lackland or receiving training at other military bases in the U.S.

Based on interviews with U.S. and Afghan military personnel, civilian and military sources at the Defense Language Institute, interviews with some of the AWOL Afghans and information gleaned from their online profiles, FoxNews.com has exclusively uncovered details of a pipeline that runs from San Antonio to Toronto.

At least six Afghans flew from Texas to Buffalo, N.Y., multiple sources say, and then traveled the short distance to Niagara Falls, where they posed as bumbling, lost tourists who crossed into Canada and kept on going.

At least three of the AWOL men now living in Toronto have profile pictures on Facebook that feature them standing in front of Niagara Falls, including. Mohammad Nasim Fatehzada, whose Facebook profile picture, timestamped June 21, 2008, shows him posing at the Falls.

Two others, Sardar Ahmadi and Mohammad Zaher Aetimady, traveled to Canada by way of a long cross-country bus trip, Ahmadi told FoxNews.com. He posted photos online of his DLI graduation and of his sightseeing trip to Washington D.C., where he posed in front of the Capitol. There are also photos on Facebook of Ahmadi at a Quality Inn in Philadelphia. Aetimady, who belongs to the Facebook group “We Love Roadtrips,â€

They should be prosecuted for embezzlement.

My question is why are we sending Americans over there and placing them severely in harms way supposedly to keep us safe when our security at home is lacking like this?

Are there any grown up minds left in Washington, D.C.?