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Russia recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos: report

Ukraine claims Russian forces have withdrawn from town in Kherson region
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According to media reports, Afghan commandos trained by Allied forces to fight the Taliban are now being recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine.

The West abandoned up to 30,000 members of the elite National Army Commando Corps when the country fell to the Taliban in August last year, according to the Daily Mail.

According to the report, the US-trained light infantry force that has fought alongside Allied troops for nearly 20 years may now be joining Vladimir Putin’s savage war effort.

The shadowy Wagner Group is thought to be behind the recruitment drive, taking advantage of jobless commandos.

According to an ex-official, Foreign Policy: “I can tell you that [the recruiters] are from the Wagner Group. They’re bringing in people from all over. Western allies would be better off using [the Afghan commandos] to fight alongside Ukrainians. They don’t want to fight for the Russians because they are the enemy. But what else can they possibly do?”

Many claim to have received offers to join the Russian ‘foreign legion’ in Ukraine via WhatsApp and Signal.

According to the Daily Mail, senior military and security officials in Afghanistan fear that 10,000 soldiers may be tempted to join because they have “nothing to lose.”

The US evacuated only a few hundred senior officers during its dramatic withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021.

Many Afghan soldiers fled to neighbouring countries, while others went into hiding for fear of retaliation from the Taliban for their allegiance to the defunct government and the West.

The commandos were honed by the US Navy Seals and the British SAS, with the US spending an astounding 80 billion pounds on their training.

An ex-security official predicted that their deployment to Ukraine would be a “game-changer” in Putin’s shaky war.

Rep. Michael McCaul warned last year that abandoning the commandos would be a costly mistake for the US because they could be recruited for adversary armies.

According to one Afghan ex-commando captain who is now hiding, he assisted his comrades in connecting with recruiters in Iran.

They were flown to Tehran and then to Russia, where their phones were turned off and their mission was carried out’secretly,’ according to the Daily Mail.

About the author

Brendan Taylor

Brendan Taylor was a TV news producer for 5 and a half years. He is an experienced writer. Brendan covers Breaking News at Insider Paper.







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