Afghan particular forces troopers who fought alongside American troops after which fled to Iran after the United States’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan final yr are actually being recruited by the Russian army to battle in Ukraine, the Associated Press information company has reported.
Three former Afghan generals informed the AP the Russians wish to entice 1000’s of the previous elite Afghan commandos right into a “foreign legion” providing a gentle, $1,500-a-month wage and promising a protected haven for themselves and their households to allow them to keep away from deportation house to what many assume could be dying by the hands of the Taliban.
“They don’t want to go fight — but they have no choice,” mentioned one of many generals, Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, including that the dozen or so commandos in Iran with whom he has texted worry deportation most.
“They ask me, ‘Give me a solution? What should we do? If we go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us.’”
Arghandiwal mentioned the recruiting is led by the Russian mercenary pressure Wagner Group.
Another basic, Hibatullah Alizai, the final Afghan military chief earlier than the Taliban took over, mentioned the trouble can also be being helped by a former Afghan particular forces commander who lived in Russia and speaks the language.
The Russian recruitment follows months of warnings from US troopers who fought with Afghan particular forces that the Taliban was intent on killing them and that they may be a part of with US enemies to remain alive or out of anger with their former ally.
A Republican Party congressional report in August particularly warned of the hazard that the Afghan commandos — skilled by US Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets — might find yourself giving details about US ways to the Islamic State group, Iran or Russia, or battle for them.
“We didn’t get these individuals out as we promised, and now it’s coming home to roost,” mentioned Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer who served in Afghanistan, including that the Afghan commandos are highly-skilled, fierce fighters. “I don’t want to see them in any battlefield, frankly, but certainly not fighting the Ukrainians.”
Mulroy was sceptical, nonetheless, that Russians would be capable to persuade many Afghan commandos to hitch them as a result of most he knew have been pushed by the will to make democracy work of their nation slightly than being weapons for rent.
The recruitment comes as Russian forces reel from Ukrainian army advances and Russian President Vladimir Putin pursues a sputtering mobilisation effort, which has prompted a whole bunch of 1000’s of Russian males to flee the nation to flee service.
Russia’s Defence Ministry didn’t reply to a request for remark.
A spokesperson for Yevgeny Prigozhin, who just lately acknowledged being the founding father of the Wagner Group, dismissed the concept of an ongoing effort to recruit former Afghan troopers as “crazy nonsense”.
The US Defense Department additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark, however a senior official advised the recruiting isn’t a surprise on condition that Wagner has been attempting to enroll troopers in a number of different nations.
It was unclear what number of Afghan particular forces members who fled to Iran have been courted by the Russians, however one informed the AP he’s speaking by the WhatsApp chat service with about 400 different commandos who’re contemplating gives.
He mentioned many like him worry deportation and are indignant on the US for abandoning them.
“We thought they might create a special programme for us, but no one even thought about us,” mentioned the previous commando, who requested anonymity as a result of he fears for himself and his household. “They just left us all in the hands of the Taliban.”
The commando mentioned his supply included Russian visas for himself in addition to his three youngsters and spouse who’re nonetheless in Afghanistan. Others have been supplied extensions of their visas in Iran. He mentioned he’s ready to see what others within the WhatsApp teams resolve however thinks many will take the deal.
US veterans who fought with Afghan particular forces have described to the AP almost a dozen instances, none confirmed independently, of the Taliban going home to deal with trying for commandos nonetheless within the nation, torturing or killing them, or doing the identical to relations if they’re nowhere to be discovered.
Human Rights Watch has mentioned greater than 100 former Afghan troopers, intelligence officers and police have been killed or forcibly “disappeared” simply three months after the Taliban took over regardless of guarantees of amnesty.
The United Nations, in a report in mid-October, documented 160 extrajudicial killings and 178 arrests of former authorities and army officers.
The brother of an Afghan commando in Iran who has accepted the Russian supply mentioned Taliban threats make it troublesome to refuse. He mentioned his brother needed to cover for three months after the autumn of Kabul, shuttling between kin’ homes whereas the Taliban searched his house.
“My brother had no other choice than accepting the offer,” mentioned the commando’s brother, Murad, who would solely give his first title due to worry the Taliban may observe him down. “This was not an easy decision for him.”
Former Afghan military chief Alizai mentioned a lot of the Russian recruiting effort is targeted on Tehran and Mashhad, a metropolis close to the Afghan border the place many have fled. The generals who spoke to the AP, together with a 3rd, Abdul Jabar Wafa, mentioned none of their contacts in Iran have been conscious of what number of had taken up the supply.
“You get military training in Russia for two months, and then you go to the battle lines,” learn one textual content message a former Afghan soldier in Iran despatched to Arghandiwal. “A number of personnel have gone, but they have lost contact with their families and friends altogether. The exact statistics are unclear.”
An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Afghan particular forces fought with the Americans throughout the two-decade warfare, and just a few hundred senior officers have been airlifted out when the US army withdrew from Afghanistan.
Since most of the Afghan commandos didn’t work immediately for the US army, they weren’t eligible for particular US visas.
“They were the ones who fought to the really last minute. And they never, never, never talked to the Taliban. They never negotiated,” Alizai mentioned. “Leaving them behind is the biggest mistake.”