The U.S. Air Force and Georgia are on the lookout for two Afghan Air Force trainees who failed to report for maintenance training Monday at the Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Ga.
The two men are part of a 14-man maintenance crew, along with nine pilots, who are part of a program to train Afghan pilots and maintenance personnel who will be flying the A-29 Super Tucano fighter, reported ABC News.
"Both [men] are assigned to the 81st Fighter Squadron," Air Force officials said in a statement. "They have been at Moody since February 2015 and were screened prior to their arrival in the United States more than a year ago.
"The students have trained alongside American counterparts for the entirety of 2015 and do not pose any apparent threat. There is a well-coordinated process among federal agencies to locate the individuals as quickly as possible and return them accordingly to the proper authorities."
Federal, local and state agencies have joined with the military to search for them ever since they were officially declared missing Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
In a Wednesday update on the situation, Valdosta Police Chief Brian Childress said there's "zero evidence" the men are terrorists.
This declaration comes on the heels of the terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif., by an alleged radicalized couple which has raised concerns about the missing pair's status, reported NBC News. It's possible they fled in fear for their safety, defected or worse.
This isn't the first time Afghan soldiers in the U.S. have gone missing. In September 2014, three Afghan National Army soldiers disappeared during a training exercise in Cape Cod, Mass., only to be found later trying to cross into Canada, reportedly because they didn't want to return to Afghanistan.
