By Haider Abbas
The war of Russia-Ukraine is into its own twists and turns, and after the reported Syrian mercenaries fighting for Russia, Israeli soldiers fighting ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Ukraine, there is now news coming that Russia is to recruit Afghanistan commandos to ‘fight-for-money’ against Ukraine. According to a report ‘Afghan commandos trained by Allied forces are being recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine after they were abandoned by the West when country fell to the Taliban’. Up to 30,000 Afghan commandos were abandoned by the West last year, now they are being recruited by Russia to join in Putin (side), it is believed the shadowy Wagner Group is behind the recruitment drive.’ Wagner Group is a paramilitary Russian organization which grooms ‘mercenaries network worldwide’, to fight for Russia.
This Russian-Ukraine war, since February, has come almost within no time after US had to leave from its 20 years occupation of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, needless to say, that all Afghanistan forces, employees and sympathizers of US and West, were left in a lurch, to ‘combat or comply’ with the Afghan-Taliban government in Afghanistan. There had been a dark alley, since 2021, particularly for the elite commandos who have been trained by US Seals and British Special Air Services, at a staggering 90 billion US dollars during all these last two decades. Obviously when this whole chunk, had been totally abandoned by the US, the Wagner Group made a reach-out programme for it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep his stock-intact , in terms of his weapons as well as military forces, despite his declaration over partial-mobilization, and there have been reports that Iranian drones are ‘put-into-action-against Ukraine etc, triggering speculations that Israel in a tit-for-tit to Iran would supply its air-defence-system to Ukraine. Putin wants more fighters for Russia, and Afghan elite commandos are to fill-into-for-the purpose. The Afghan military and security sources have claimed that such US trained light-infantry could make a difference in the Ukrainian battlefield. All this is now to be an asset for Russia as the new recruits are said to have fought alongside US in the last twenty years, but the only stumbling block, is that Russia too had invaded Afghanistan (1979-89) and there is an ideological barrier too. Will it be overcome? Perhaps, yes, as the situation of a rock-and-a-hard-place is what faces Afghan commandos, who all have been literally rendered jobless and are surviving on just bare needs.
This entire Afghan National Defence and Security Forces ‘built-up’ by the US is at stake, as the money spent by US will serve the purpose of Russia as it’s ‘anti-US agenda’, as US and West have totally thrown their weight, with their military support to Ukraine and economic sanctions etc on Russia. How this move might end-up as a game-changer for Russia is what is to be seen. As Wagner Group is also considered to be organ of dependence for Putin, which has been into serving Russian objectives, almost on the lines of Blackwaters of US. Both can be categorized as private armies into action. Moreover, there is a general sense of fatigue pervading the Afghan commandos, who have been left to fend-for-themselves against the Afghanistan government run by Afghan-Taliban. The promised ‘resettlement’ into US or Britain has also not as yet come! Ironically, last year, US Republican Michael McCaul had warned that abandoning the commandos could prove to be a costly mistake by the US as they could be recruited by adversary armies from China, Russia or Iran.
The ground reality now is that this rather hapless force and the ‘vacuum-left-around’ is what the Wagner Group is set to tap-into as they are now to be an easy picking. A Former Afghan Official has reportedly summed-up the whole situation, “ they are waiting for work for 3$ to 4$ a day in Pakistan or Iran or 10$ a day in Turkey, and if Wagner or any other intelligence service come to a guy and offer 1000 $ to be a fighting man again, they won’t reject it. And if you find one guy to recruit, he can get half his old unit to join up because they are like-brothers-and pretty soon, you’ve got a whole platoon.”
The process of induction has started as reports are coming that Wagner Group is in contact with commandos over Signal and WhatsApp to join the Russia’s ‘foreign-legion’. Since, no help has as yet come from US and Britain alike, the Wagner Group is also hitting where it matters most, as there have been offers of “Russian citizenship” too, and it is expected that as many as around 10,000 former US commandos are likely to accept the Russian offer. This is what US will be forced to pay for as after all the commandos had been left high-and-dry!
What matters here also is that despite the Russian baggage of invasion of Afghanistan, there is no doubt that it is the same Russia which supported Afghan-Taliban fight against US, which has resulted into a meltdown of a general perception of Russia considered as an always-enemy and Russian close ties with Afghan-Taliban as well as that of China is now an open-known fact. Both Russia and China are against US and allies and this Afghan angle will surely add more to US President Joseph Biden nemesis. How US is to deal with it would come out in the coming days, as Iran, the worst bête noir of US, is reportedly ‘ferrying’ Afghan commandos to Tehran and later on the way to Russia, with their mobile-phones switched-off, as per an Ex. Afghan commando captain. How will this new chapter unfold is what time will tell.
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The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner and writes on international issues.