Security

With mounting losses, Russia recruits former Afghan forces to fight in Ukraine

By Hamza

Former Afghan National Army commandos are seen during a training exercise on November 9, 2020, in Herat Province. [Omar/Salaam Times]

Former Afghan National Army commandos are seen during a training exercise on November 9, 2020, in Herat Province. [Omar/Salaam Times]

KABUL -- Russia has begun recruiting former Afghan security personnel in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries to bolster its war of aggression in Ukraine, according to former Afghan military commanders.

Russia invaded Ukraine February 24.

Moscow's recruitment -- with the help of Tehran and Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group -- started in earnest about a month ago and some fighters have already deployed to Russia, they said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, founded the Wagner Group, which is now openly fighting in Ukraine and in other hotspots around the world on Moscow's behalf.

Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine in October. [Wagner Group]

Wagner Group mercenaries in Ukraine in October. [Wagner Group]

"Surveillance, torture, widespread acts of revenge, security threats and severe economic challenges have forced Afghan security personnel to flee the country and to fall into the trap of mercenary recruiters," said Farid Ahmadi, former lieutenant-general and ex-commander of Afghanistan's Special Operations Corps.

"Foreign private security companies that have worked in Afghanistan, with which some politicians and former senior ... officials co-operate or have partnerships, assist in the recruitment of [former] security personnel," he said.

The recruitment is happening right now in Iran and in Afghanistan, he said.

"They offer them salaries, visas for family members and relocation to other countries in exchange for going to war for them [the Russians]."

PMCs are for-profit entities, Ahmadi said. "They violate human rights, rights of refugees and international conventions for personal gain."

"In my conversations with former security personnel, I have warned them about the dangerous consequences of such a decision and that there will be no return for them," he added.

"I hope [my warnings] work and that they will pursue other solutions to their problems."

Afghans 'will be sacrificed'

Russia is recruiting former Afghan troops, confirmed Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, former major general and ex-commander of the 207th Zafar Corps and ex-chief of staff to the then-minister of defence.

"More than 30,000 Afghan security personnel, including members of the National Army, National Police and National Directorate of Security, fled to neighbouring countries, especially to Iran and Pakistan, to save their lives," he said.

Arghandiwal himself now lives in the United States.

"They faced problems in Iran once their visas expired and they were on the verge of being deported by the Iranian regime."

"In the meantime, according to a plan, Russia, Iran and the Russian Wagner Group took advantage of the situation and started recruiting Afghan commandos to fight for Russia in the Ukraine war," he said.

"Registration and recruitment of the Afghan commandos in Iran started a month ago and some personnel are already registered," Arghandiwal said.

"A few groups of these fighters have been sent to Russia for a trial period," he said, adding that their exact location is unclear.

"Based on the information my comrades have shared with me, the next groups will be sent to Russia and to the war in Ukraine in the coming weeks."

Russian recruiters promise to pay the Afghans and to move their families to Iran or Russia, Arghandiwal said.

However, "the commitment made by Russia is informal and not legally binding. Russia may just deceive them, as they will have no way to return once they are on the battlefield," he warned.

"It may pay salaries to recruited personnel for a month or two to encourage the rest of the [Afghans] to join, but in the end, they will be trapped with no way to return alive from the Ukraine war," he said.

"Although Afghan personnel are not interested in joining the Russian forces in the Ukraine war, they are pushed and have made a dangerous choice," he said. "They will unfortunately be sacrificed."

Arghandiwal called on Afghans "not to stand with the occupying Russian forces".

"Like Russia, which has occupied parts of Ukrainian territory, the former Soviet Union invaded our country, too," he said. "It dropped thousands of bombs on our people, killing 1.5 million Afghans and injuring and maiming millions of others."

"I call on the heroic security personnel not to sacrifice their lives for the sinister goals of the aggressors in the Ukraine war."

Russia turning to Iran

Arghandiwal accused Iran of being complicit in Russia's crimes and aggression against Ukraine.

"The Iranian government is a partner in Russia's crimes in the Ukraine war," he said. "It provided Russian troops with various types of weapons and drones so that its strategic ally would not be weakened against the US and NATO in the Ukraine war."

"At the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Putin thought he would overthrow the Ukrainian government in one to three months and install a regime loyal to Moscow's interests."

"He thought he would expand his influence, achieve his strategic objectives and defuse [alleged] threats posed to Moscow from the US and NATO," Arghandiwal said.

"But contrary to Putin's calculations, the war dragged on, and not only could Moscow not achieve its objectives, but it suffered heavy casualties and lost many weapons, pieces of equipment and planes. Its regional and international standing is damaged."

Faced with troop shortages in Ukraine, Russia has asked Iran to provide it with experienced combatants, said Rahmatullah Hassan, a former Afghan army colonel, now a military analyst based in Sweden.

"Iran did not send its 60,000-strong Afghan fighting force [the Fatemiyoun Division], which it has used in wars in Iraq and Syria, since the Fatemiyoun is Shia. Instead, it decided to take advantage of the tough situation of Afghan commandos who are taking refuge in Iran and started recruiting them in a joint decision with Russia and the Wagner Group," he said.

"Russian soldiers are not interested in fighting in Ukraine," he said. "They know that the war in Ukraine is aggressive and unjust. Therefore, many Russian soldiers have fled from the front to Turkey, Central Asia and other countries."

"To prevent its biggest defeat in the Ukraine war, Moscow has now turned to recruiting Afghan personnel."

'A historical shame'

"Russia's attack on Ukraine is aggression and an occupation," Hassan said. "It will be a historical shame for the Afghan personnel if they stand beside Russians. Like Russian soldiers, they will be killed in Ukraine."

"As a former military [officer], I call on the security personnel not to go to war in Ukraine and not to destroy their future and their family's future since there is no way to return from this war except dead," he said.

Moscow is turning to Tehran out of desperation, said Mohammad Asif Sediqi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan senate who now lives in Spain.

"Russia is losing so badly in Ukraine that today it is receiving weapons and drones from Iran to keep its war machine going," he said.

"Putin has lost the war in Ukraine and is threatening Ukraine and other countries with a nuclear attack," Sediqi said. "Russian forces have suffered heavy casualties in Ukraine, and now Russia wants to recruit Afghan commandos to achieve its sinister goals."

"I call on the former Afghan security personnel not to be fooled by the Russians and not to spill the blood of innocent Ukrainians as Russian soldiers do," he said.

"Iran has been recruiting Afghan refugees for years to fight for [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, and today, in violation of international laws on refugees, it is recruiting former Afghan security personnel to protect Putin's interests," said Ahmad Khan Andar, an Afghan military analyst based in Sweden.

"We call on the United Nations and organisations defending the rights of refugees and immigrants to stop Iran from violating the rights of Afghan refugees and immigrants and to stop the [Russian] recruitment of [former] Afghan troops," he said.

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America and its allies trained the Afghan armed forces for 20 years, and finally, after 20 years, they abandoned all of this and left. There is a question for me whether the military forces of our country were fighting for the territorial integrity of our country or to find money? If they were fighting for their homeland, why didn't we have a well organized army in these 45 years? During these 45 years, advanced Russian weapons were in the hands of the Afghan army, and within a year, the Islamic government of Afghanistan sold all these weapons to other countries and they kept shouting that we are defending Afghanistan. What do they defend with? Do they defend Afghanistan with shovels and picks? This nation did not rise against a traitorous system. Everyone sees the betrayals of this and no one raises their voice. If Afghanistan had an organized army and the people of Afghanistan supported that army, and the people in this army were loyal to their country, Afghanistan would not have been destroyed. Our soldiers always fight in other countries for money. In Tajikistan, in Bosnia, in Pakistan. Also, they fight for the interests of Iran. Why is there no work in Afghanistan? It is not an industrial country. It is not a country where the educated people would be considered valuable. Always the warriors and betrayers are winners and the government is made up of the sellers and the traitors. The poor soldier remains without a destiny and everyone takes advantage of this stateless sold

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I request that all former Afghan soldiers say no to the Russians' request through your website. Russians brutally kill innocent Ukrainians. Ukraine indeed participated in the invasion of our territory in the late 1970s, but they did so under the command of the Soviet Union. And the legacy of the Soviet Union is in the hands of Russia. All Ukrainian children, women, oldies and grannies are now oppressed. They are innocent. A war has been waged on them like it was waged on our beloved country in 1979 and 2001, and our innocent people were killed. The arrogance of the Soviet Union caused the first war, and the second war was, as is said, "dick fucked, while butt was beaten."

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As I am reading this news in the media, it bothers me very badly. We have had a strong army, but they became victims of a compromise and are now fighting for other countries. I wish our leaders had not committed this betrayal and our young generation had recognized their servant and traitorous leaders; then why would the young people who had spent millions of dollars fight for foreigners today? When I look into the eyes of every Afghan soldier, I can feel their pain. It is clear from the face of each of them that they are agitated by their leaders. And they regret whatever sacrifices they made in defending their country because it did not take any place. What they fought for did not happen. Neither the homeland was liberated nor developed, but they lost their members, became martyrs, and shed their blood for their sincerity toward their country. Now the order of the leaders of Punjab is run in my homeland. Some of our ex-honorable soldiers are running manual carts, some work in construction, and many are not even able to find work, their families are facing many problems, and their lives are in danger.

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In forty years of war, Afghans have always become victims of foreign powers. And they always keep guns of the foreigners on their shoulders, and they fight for the benefits of the neighboring countries. It has been for forty years, as foreigners give modern weapons, tanks and various planes to our army, but alas, when the government ends, things get destroyed by groups of people. Our generals, our commandos, our soldiers get destroyed. First of all, our soldiers are fighting for money, not for the sake of their homeland. In all the news of the Afghan government, they argued that the Taliban are Pakistani mercenaries, but the same government of the Republic of Afghanistan handed over provinces to the the so-called Pakistani mercenaries within six days. From this, it is clear that it is not our war, but the war belongs to the foreigners, and our young generation is being killed in various names every day. We, Afghans, have been in trouble for 40 years by our authorities, and now every country is playing on our destiny. No one cares about us. The poor people are playing with their destiny for a piece of bread. With regards

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