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Former generals: Russia is recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos to fight in Ukraine

2022-11-01 19:45:20Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Former generals: Russia is recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos to fight in
Afghan special forces

Afghan special forces soldiers who fought alongside US troops during the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan are now being recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine. After the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, the former commandos moved to Iran. The news was revealed by three former Afghan generals to the Associated Press news agency.

According to Afghan generals, the Russians are seeking to join a foreign legion of thousands of former elite Afghan commandos. They are offering them regular monthly payments of $1,500, as well as promising safe housing for themselves and their families, which would avoid deportation to their homeland and certain death at the hands of the Taliban. , which many people think is to be expected.

"They don't want to go fight, but they have no choice," said one of the generals, Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, adding that about 12 commandos in Iran, with whom he has exchanged messages, fear deportation. "They tell me: Give us a solution, what should we do? If we go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us."

General Arghandiwal said that the recruitment is led by the Russian mercenary force 'Wagner Group'. Another general, Hibatullah Alizai, who led the Afghan army before the Taliban took power, said Moscow is also being helped in these efforts by a former Afghan special forces commander who lives in Russia and speaks Russian.

Moscow's move comes after months of warnings from US soldiers who fought alongside Afghan special forces that the Taliban intended to kill them and the latter (Afghan commandos) to avoid death or out of anger. with their former ally (the US), they could join Washington's enemies.

An August report by Republican lawmakers pointedly warned of the danger that Afghan commandos, trained by US Marines and the Army's Green Berets, could go so far as to pass on information about US tactics. , the Islamic State group, Iran or Russia, or to fight for them.

"We didn't get these people out (of the country) like we promised, and now those mistakes will come back to haunt us," said Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer who served in Afghanistan, adding that Afghan commandos are highly skilled fighters. skilled and tough. "I would not like to see them on any battlefield, and certainly not fighting against the Ukrainians."

However, Mr Mulroy was skeptical that the Russians would be able to persuade many of the Afghan commandos to join them. According to him, most of those he knew were working for a functioning democracy in their country, and not being recruited as contract killers.

The AP was investigating the recruitment of Afghan commandos when details of the effort were first reported last week by Foreign Policy magazine, based on unnamed Afghan military and security sources. The recruitment comes amid the shock that Russian forces have suffered due to Ukrainian military advances on the battlefield and as Russian President Vladimir Putin is implementing a tough policy on the mobilization of troops, which has forced about 200,000 Russian citizens to leave the country, to saved from military service.

The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Yevgeny Prigozhin, who recently admitted to being the founder of the 'Wagner' group, dismissed claims of an ongoing effort to recruit former Afghan soldiers as "nonsense nonsense".

The US Department of Defense also did not respond to a request for comment, but a senior official suggested the recruitment was not surprising given that the Wagner group has tried to recruit soldiers in several other countries.

It remains unclear how many members of the Afghan special forces who defected to Iran have been contacted by the Russians, but one of them told the AP agency that he was communicating via the WhatsApp service with about 400 other commandos who are considering offers.

He said that many of them, like himself, fear deportation (from Iran) and are angry at the US for abandoning them.

"We thought they could create a special program, but no one thought of us," said the former commando, who asked to remain anonymous because of the danger to himself and his family. "They left us all in the hands of the Taliban," he added.

The former commando said he had been offered Russian visas for him, as well as for his three children and his wife, who are still in Afghanistan.

Others have been offered visa extensions to stay in Iran. He said that he is waiting to see what the others, who are part of the group created on WhatsApp, will decide, adding that according to him many (former commandos) will accept the offer.

Some 20,000 to 30,000 Afghan special forces fought with the Americans during the two-decade war, but only a few hundred senior officers were taken with them when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan. Because many of the Afghan commandos did not work directly for the US military, they were not eligible for special US visas.

"They were the ones who fought until the last minute. And they never, never, never talked to the Taliban. They never negotiated with them," said former Afghan army chief Alizai. "Leaving them behind is the biggest mistake."


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