AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis
One of the most shameful outcomes of President Joe Biden’s botched evacuation from Afghanistan was the abandonment of thousands of Afghan soldiers who fought alongside the U.S. military for two decades. Now, left destitute and at the mercy of the Taliban, some have desperately resorted to fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine.
According to reports, the infamous Wagner Group, a Russian private military organization linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a top confidante of Vladimir Putin, is now turning abroad for recruitment, specifically to Afghanistan. Accounts of Wagner Group representatives reaching out to former Afghan soldiers first began to trickle out of the region last fall, and have now been all but confirmed by sources within the country and the surrounding areas.
Throughout the United States’ 20-year involvement in Afghanistan, the U.S. military and its contractors trained tens of thousands of men to form the Afghan National Army. Between 20,000 and 30,000 were trained as special forces – Afghan commandos, who operated as elite light infantry “disruptor” units. These warriors fought alongside U.S. green berets in some of the most dangerous fighting throughout the conflict, and were trained to hold the Taliban at bay.
However, according to the Taliban-interpreted Sharia law, anyone who fought alongside the Americans was guilty of betraying Islam. Upon retaking power, the Taliban justice minister declared anyone who assisted the Americans to be traitors. Even as the U.S. was evacuating, the Taliban began arresting and executing Afghan National Army fighters and their families.
Thousands chose to flee the country, with most escaping to Tajikistan and Iran. Others fled to Uzbekistan and Turkey. If they were lucky enough to escape the clutches of the Taliban, they found severe poverty awaiting them.
Many understandably felt betrayed and abandoned by their Americans allies. “Tell your American readers that we never capitulated, we never showed disloyalty to our country,” one man, who wished to only be identified as Juma, told this author. “America left us.”
“We have our honor and never desired welfare or a visa from the United States,” another soldier named Afshin told me. “We only wanted to avoid beheadings and turning our female family members into sex slaves by the Taliban.”
Afshin served in U.S.-aligned reconnaissance units dating all the way back to 2007. Before he fled the country, Afshin destroyed the most lethal American weapons that he had access to so that the Taliban could not use them, including helicopters and airplanes.
Another former Afghan commando, Syed Ahmad Nouri, now scavenges for food to feed his family under the cover of darkness near Mashhad in Iran. A former top Afghan Interior Ministry official has been forced to clean garbage bins near Abadan, paid just enough so that his children will not starve. Both were trained by leading U.S. and NATO specialists, and both are on the Taliban’s most wanted list.
These conditions have created a ripe opportunity for the Russian mercenaries to take advantage of the pain and suffering of the Afghan warriors. Some former commandos have even described the Wagner Group’s offer as “manna from heaven” or “salvation from evil.” Wagner Group representatives reportedly offer Russian citizenship, a $3,000 monthly wage plus $500 per child, and full reimbursement of travel and accommodation costs. Wagner recruiters reportedly emphasize safety for the families of the soon-to-be mercenaries, understanding that this is their chief concern
Still, many recognize the bitter irony that they are now fighting for the same Russian Army that killed millions of Afghans during the Soviet Union’s 10-year war in the country, and the same army now visiting that same destruction on Ukraine. Many of the horrifying crimes against humanity committed by the Soviets have gone unpunished, with Gorbachev announcing amnesty in 1989. Juma said this is why he would never join the Russians, but added that he was aware of at least 100 former Afghan soldiers who had joined the Wagner Group since last November.
Afghan recruits are particularly prized for their inside knowledge of U.S. tactics and weapons systems, which are now being sent to Ukraine. According to former Afghan soldiers, Wagner offered at least a few dozen the job of military trainers in the pre-combat camps near Rostov. A popular Russian military social media chat, Sladkoff, also alleged that last year private Russian firms transported some American heavy military equipment from Afghanistan to these camps.
Some U.S. military personnel who were active in Afghanistan and served alongside these commandos have forcefully denounced Biden’s abandonment of American allies. Thomas Kasza, an American special forces soldier who helped train Afghan soldiers, penned a gut-wrenching op-ed in the New York Times late last month detailing what many like him are now feeling. “The country we bled for to keep free is gone, and the very weapon we created to keep oppression at bay has been co-opted by tyranny,” Kasza writes.
“As the new Congress prepares to investigate the withdrawal and how it went so disastrously wrong,” Kasza continued, “it should examine not only the lead-up to those dramatic days in August 2021 when the Taliban swept into Kabul, but also what happened — and is currently happening — in the wake of their victory. How those who safeguarded American troops are actively hunted. How they’ve suffered under the Taliban. How our government turned a blind eye.”
For two decades, Afghan soldiers were proud to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. military, hoping their mission would finally bring lasting peace to a war-torn country. But now, peace is nowhere to be found, and it is Moscow, not Washington, extending the offer of assistance – even if that assistance comes at a terrible price.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
