Human Rights

Afghan Syria war recruits face broken promises in poverty-stricken Iran

By Najibullah

A photo circulated widely on social media in the past month depicts two homeless men fighting over a bottle outside the Grand Bazaar in Tehran. Recent protests against the Iranian regime were sparked largely because of the country's deteriorating economic situation.

A photo circulated widely on social media in the past month depicts two homeless men fighting over a bottle outside the Grand Bazaar in Tehran. Recent protests against the Iranian regime were sparked largely because of the country's deteriorating economic situation.

KABUL -- With unrest surging in Iran and the regime cracking down on protesters, Afghan refugees living in Iran should expect even worse living conditions and unfulfilled promises, observers say.

The protests in Iran, which started December 28 as demonstrations over economic issues, quickly escalated into protests against the regime as a whole.

Twenty-five people were killed in the unrest between December 28 and January 1, according to the authorities. They made hundreds of arrests.

Estimates vary, but some figures suggest as much as 40% of Iranians -- more than 30 million citizens -- live below the poverty line.

A picture taken December 15 in Karaj, Iran, shows the funeral of Seyed Ali Naghavi, a suspected Afghan member of the Fatemiyoun Brigade who lost his life in the Syrian war. Iranian authorities never reveal the identity of fallen combatants when they are Afghans. [Aref Fathiakbari/Mehr News Agency]

A picture taken December 15 in Karaj, Iran, shows the funeral of Seyed Ali Naghavi, a suspected Afghan member of the Fatemiyoun Brigade who lost his life in the Syrian war. Iranian authorities never reveal the identity of fallen combatants when they are Afghans. [Aref Fathiakbari/Mehr News Agency]

Iranian students protest at the University of Tehran December 30 during a demonstration driven by anger over economic problems. [STR/AFP]

Iranian students protest at the University of Tehran December 30 during a demonstration driven by anger over economic problems. [STR/AFP]

These economic problems and political instability do not bode well for the approximately 3 million Afghans living in Iran, Afghan lawmakers and political analysts warn.

Broken promises

Over the past five years, Iran has recruited thousands of Afghans residing in Iran to fight on behalf of the Syrian regime under the Fatemiyoun Brigade, a militia backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iran recruits these Afghan refugees and immigrants to fight in the Syrian war in return for money and a promise of an Iranian residency permit.

But Afghans should not believe these promises, said Zakaria Khan Zakaria, a representative from Kabul in the Wolesi Jirga (Afghanistan's lower chamber of parliament).

"In the past, Iran used to name streets and roads for those who were killed in wars," he told Salaam Times. "Moreover, Iran used to provide their families with housing and monetary help. In all probability, a number of [residents of Iran] who have gone to Syria made the same assumption."

Desperate for a better life, many Afghan refugees -- including some children as young as 14 -- have been duped into fighting in Syria.

Now, however, with Iran facing spiraling economic problems, the regime can no longer provide such amenities and facilities to Afghan citizens, Zakaria said.

Afghan refugees living in Iran should be wary of the regime's promises, said Ahmad Behruz, a Kabul-based political analyst.

"Unfortunately, Iran takes advantage of refugees' desperate situations with no regard for their rights," he told Salaam Times. "It sends them over to fight in the Syrian war, using modest sums of money and false promises."

"According to some evidence, Iran not only hasn't fulfilled assurances it made to those Afghans, it left their families in Afghanistan without any breadwinner," Behruz said.

A number of Afghan citizens who had gone to Iran and then Syria in search of employment opportunities have recently returned to Afghanistan and confirmed they had not received any of the incentives pledged by the Iranian regime.

No to proxy wars

Although the Iranian regime has portrayed Afghans joining the Fatemiyoun Brigade as volunteers participating in the Syrian war, the Afghan government has repeatedly asked Iran to stop recruiting and deploying Afghans to the conflict zone.

"Afghanistan's position in this regard is clear," Dawa Khan Menapal, deputy spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, told Salaam Times. "We do not want any Afghan citizen to participate in any proxy war, just as we don't want any proxy wars to be fought in Afghanistan."

"The Afghan government is serious in this regard and is taking necessary measures," he said.

"The international community must stop Iran," Zakaria said.

"The Afghan government must file a complaint against Iran with the United Nations and must arouse the international community against Iran," he added.

The Afghan government must demand that Iran stop violating the rights of Afghan immigrants and dissolve the Fatemiyoun Brigade, Behruz said.

"Iran sends Afghan immigrants, who have already grown weary of war and unemployment, to fight yet in another war, an act that violates [their] rights," he said, adding that Afghans should no longer become victims of Iran's endless war for influence.

Over the past five years, more than 2,000 Afghans have been killed and 8,000 have been wounded in the Syrian war, said Zuhair Mujahid, an Afghan official in the Fatemiyoun Brigade, according to a BBC Persian report quoting Basij News.

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All you have written is nothing but bunch of nonsense. The Afghan government is not concerned with the lives of those three millions. This incapable government is unable of even provide security to the more than 30 million of its own people. Suicide attacks take place everyday and hundreds and thousands of people lose their lives. And yet, there is no mention of it. You cannot take your complaint to any organization. You cannot file complaint against the United States, which was directly involved in destruction of Afghanistan. Shame on the betrayer Afghans who are sit and eat off of the Iranian table, and yet they want to file complaint against it. Hey, you fools! The Fatemiyoun Division is fighting to eradicate the ISIS, and not for the sake of anyone else. Haven't you suffered enough in the hands of ISIS? In conclusion, shame on you Afghans!

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The government of Afghanistan should question the abuse that takes place by the Iranian government against Afghan immigrants who have migrated there due to such problems as unemployment and poverty. Immigrants should be treated in accordance with the international conventions, and their poverty should not result in the infringement of their human rights.

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