The special forces troops of Afghan who fought alongside American troops and then escaped to Iran after the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan past year are now being recruited by the military of Russia to battle in Ukraine, as per reports.
Three former Afghan generals said that the Russians want to attract over thousands of the former elite Afghan army commandos into a “foreign legion” offering a steady, $1,500-a-month salary and promising a safe haven for themselves and their families so they can ignore deportation home to what many think would be death in the hands of the Taliban.
Meanwhile, one of the generals, Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, said that “They don’t want to go fight, but they have no choice.” Further adding that, the dozen or so army commandos in Iran with whom he has talked via text fear deportation most.
He added that, “They ask me about solution, what should we do? If we go back to Afghanistan, then the Taliban will kill us.”
General Arghandiwal said that the recruitment process is led by the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group.
Whereas, another general, Hibatullah Alizai, who was the last Afghan army chief before the takeover by the Taliban, said the effort is also being assisted by a former Afghan special forces commander who also lived in Russia as well as speaks the language.
The recruitment process for Russian follows months of warnings from US soldiers who battled with Afghan special army that the Taliban was intent on killing them & that they might join with US enemies to stay alive or either out of anger with their former ally.
In August, a Republican Party congressional report warned of the danger that the Afghan commandos who are trained by US Navy SEALs & Army Green Berets — could end up giving information about US tactics to the Islamic State group, Iran or Russia, or fight for them.
a retired CIA officer, Michael Mulroy who also served in Afghanistan, while adding that the Afghan commandos are highly-skilled, fierce fighters, “We didn’t get these individuals out as we promised & now it’s coming home to roost. I don’t want to see them in any field of war, frankly, but certainly not battling the Ukrainians.”
Mulroy was sceptical, however, that Russians would be able to convince many Afghan commandos to join them as most he knew were driven by the idea to make democracy work in their nation rather than being guns for hire.