Former Afghan soldier who fled U.S. training granted asylum: lawyer

A soldier in the Afghanistan army who went missing during a training exercise at a U.S. military base in Massachusetts last year has been granted asylum by the United States, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

"The board of immigration has ruled that he gets asylum," said Matthew Borowski, who represented Arash in his request for asylum and subsequent appeal. "He's overjoyed. He was almost in disbelief."

An appeals board found that Arash's apparent pro-Western beliefs would have put him in danger of attack by Taliban militants had he returned to his native Afghanistan, Borowski said.

"The danger that my client faces is not merely because he is a military officer but because he has an imputed position of being pro-Western because he attended training in the United States."

The three, who were part of a group of 200 soldiers from six countries participating in the training exercise, failed to return from a trip to a nearby mall. They broke no laws by leaving the training, U.S. military officials said at the time.  Read More at Former Afghan soldier

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