Russia is recruiting former Afghan commandos left behind in the chaotic US withdrawal from Kabul last year to join its war on Ukraine, according to a new report.
“They have no country, no jobs, no future. They have nothing to lose,” an unnamed Afghan military source told Foreign Policy magazine. “They are waiting for work for $3 to $4 a day in Pakistan or Iran or $10 a day in Turkey, and if [Russia’s] Wagner [mercenary group] or any other intelligence services come to a guy and offer $1,000 to be a fighting man again, they won’t reject it.”
The Post was unable to independently confirm the Foreign Policy report after speaking with several former Afghan Security Forces troops who remain in Kabul.
However, trapped in a country led by Taliban enemies who want them dead, many former ASF members remain in hiding and unable to work, sources have told The Post. Others have fled to neighboring nations to survive on little to no money, which could make them easy targets for Russian recruiters floating the promise of a hefty payday.
If true, the revelation substantiates Rep. Michael McCaul’s predictions in his August report on President Biden’s Afghanistan exodus, which criticized the White House for leaving behind “tens of thousands” of elite Afghan military personnel, interpreters, and female leaders promised sanctuary by the US.
“It is possible these former Afghan military and other intelligence personnel could be recruited or coerced into working for one of America’s adversaries that maintains a presence in Afghanistan, including Russia, China, or Iran,” the Texas Republican wrote.
As the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, McCaul ordered the report to investigate the failures and fallout of the evacuation mission.
The former Afghan soldiers’ integration into the Russian military would come as the country scrambles to boost its total force numbers. Russian President Vladimir Putin last month called up 300,000 conscripts to join the fight in Ukraine to replace the estimated tens of thousands of troops before them who have died.
Though the commandos and soldiers bowed swiftly to the Taliban as the US was backing out of Afghanistan, Pentagon officials have held their skills in high esteem — as they’d been trained by US Navy SEALs and in programs that cost America tens of billions of dollars.
The Afghan forces were held in such high regard that top brass — including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — did not expect the Taliban to take over as swiftly as they did, believing the security forces were trained enough to hold off the insurgency.
“A negative outcome — a Taliban automatic military takeover — is not a foregone conclusion,” Milley told reporters on July 21, 2021, less than a month before the fundamentalist group took over the country on Aug. 15.
When those skills are redirected to support America’s adversaries, it could mean serious trouble for US efforts to support the war in Ukraine, McCaul warned in his report.
“The recruitment of former Afghan military and intelligence personnel poses a major national security risk due to the fact these Afghan personnel know the US military and intelligence community’s tactics, techniques, and procedures,” he said.