United States: According to three former Afghan generals who spoke to The Associated Press, the Russian military now wants to recruit Afghan Special Forces soldiers to fight in Ukraine, as they fought alongside US troops last year, before that they fled to Iran after the turmoil. America's return.
He claimed that the Russians are trying to lure thousands of ex-elite Afghan commandos to join the "Foreign Army", offering them a steady $1,500 monthly salary and giving them safe haven for themselves and their families. giving assurances.
This would prevent them from being sent back home, where many believe they would have a violent end at the hands of the Taliban.
Also Read: Elon Musk's funny answer to the question related to Donald Trump
One of the generals, Abdul Raf Argandiwal, said he had about a dozen commandos in Iran with whom he most feared deportation. "They don't want to fight, but they have no choice," he said. "They request that I provide a solution. What should we do? If we return to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us.
According to Arghandiwal, the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary force, is in charge of recruitment. Hebatullah Alizai, the last Afghan army commander before the Taliban came under control, claimed that a former commander of Afghan special forces living in Russia and speaking the language was also assisting in the effort.
After months of warnings from US soldiers working with Afghan special forces that the Taliban was out to get them and that they might join forces with American enemies to survive or out of resentment towards their former ally To get out, the Russians have now joined.
Afghan commandos, who were trained by US Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, were specifically cautioned in an August GOP congressional report about the risk that they could be exposed to US tactics by the Daesh group, Iran or Russia. can join together. Share information or fight. for them.
"We didn't get these guys out as promised, and now it's coming to settle down," said Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer who served in Afghanistan.
He said Afghan commandos are highly trained, fierce fighters. To be honest, I don't want to see them on any battlefield, let alone where they are at war with the Ukrainians.
However, Mulroy doubted that the Russians would be able to recruit as many Afghan commandos, as most of them knew they were motivated by a desire to see their country's democracy succeed, not by a desire to hire guns.
When Foreign Policy magazine broke the story last week based on unnamed Afghan military and security sources, the AP was looking for Afghan recruits.
Some 200,000 Russian men have fled the country to avoid military duty as a result of recruitment, following a swift mobilization effort by the Russian military and Russian President Vladimir Putin from Ukrainian military advances.
Requests for comment from the Russian Defense Ministry were not answered. Yevgeny Prigozhin recently admitted to being the founder of the Wagner Group, and his spokesman called the notion of an ongoing recruitment drive for ex-Afghan soldiers "crazy nonsense."
Also Read: Elon Musk hires a technology executive of Indian descent to revamp Twitter
A senior official suggested that the recruitment is not surprising given Wagner's efforts to recruit troops in several other countries, but the US Department of Defense declined to comment.
Unknown how many Afghan special forces members who fled Iran are loved by Russians, but one told the AP that he is in contact with 400 other commandos who are considering proposals via the WhatsApp chat service.
He claimed that many who left him share his fear of deportation and anger towards America.
The former commando, who sought anonymity because of concerns about himself and his family, said: "We thought they might make a special program for us, but no one thought of us. Told us to the Taliban. Left in their hands."
The commando claimed that his offer also included a Russian visa for his wife, three children and himself, all of whom were still in Afghanistan. Iranian authorities have extended the visas of others.
He claimed that he is waiting for the decisions of others in the WhatsApp group, but believes many will accept the deal.
Nearly a dozen instances of Taliban going door-to-door in search of commandos in the country, torturing or killing them, or doing so to family members if they are nowhere to be found, have been reported by US troops to the AP. . , With Afghan special forces. Neither of these cases has been independently confirmed.
Exactly three months after the Taliban came to power, according to Human Rights Watch, more than 100 former Afghan soldiers, intelligence agents, despite the Taliban's promise of 160 extrajudicial killings and 178 arrests or forcible "disappearances" of former government and military intelligence agents. And the police were killed. , The officials were listed in a report published by the United Nations in mid-October.
According to the brother of an Afghan commando in Iran who accepted the Russian offer, it is difficult to decline due to Taliban threats. Following the fall of Kabul, he claimed that his brother had to hide for three months, moving between the homes of relatives as the Taliban searched his house.
The brother of the commando, Murad, who would only use his first name out of concern that the Taliban might find him, claimed that his brother "had no choice but to accept the offer." He did not find this decision to be simple.
Alizai, a former commander of the Afghan army, claimed that Tehran and Mashhad, a city close to the Afghan border where many people have fled, are the main targets of Russian recruiting efforts. None of the generals, including a third, Abdul Jabar Wafa, who spoke to the AP, claimed that their contacts in Iran are aware of how many people have accepted the offer.
A former Afghan soldier in Iran texted Arghandiwal, "You get military training in Russia for two months, and then you go to the battle lines." "A number of the staff members have left, but they are completely out of touch with their loved ones. Uncertainty surrounds the precise statistics.
Only a small number of senior officers were airlifted out of Afghanistan when the US military withdrew, despite the fact that an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Afghan special forces fought alongside the Americans during the two-decade conflict. Many of the Afghan commandos were ineligible for special US visas because they did not directly support the US military.
They were the ones who fought right up until the very last second. Additionally, they never once spoke with the Taliban. They never bargained, according to Alizai. The biggest error is leaving them behind.
