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  6.  » 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’s faltering war effort
  • It is believed the shadowy Wagner Group is behind the recruitment drive 

Jack Newman – Daily Mail Oct 26, 2022

Afghan commandos who had been trained by Allied forces to fight the Taliban are now being recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine.

Up to 30,000 members of the elite National Army Commando Corps were abandoned by the West when the country fell to the hardline Islamist group last year.

Now, the US-trained light infantry force that fought side by side with allied troops for nearly 20 years could be joining Vladimir Putin‘s savage war effort.

It is believed the shadowy Wagner Group is behind the recruitment drive, exploiting the jobless commandos.

An ex-official told Foreign Policy: ‘I am telling you [the recruiters] are Wagner Group. They are gathering people from all over.

‘[The Afghan commandos] would be better used by Western allies to fight alongside Ukrainians. They don’t want to fight for the Russians; the Russians are the enemy. But what else are they going to do?’

Many say they have been contacted via WhatsApp and Signal with offers to join the Russian ‘foreign legion’ in Ukraine.

Senior military and security officials in Afghanistan fear as many as 10,000 soldiers could be tempted to join, because they have ‘nothing to lose’.

Only a few hundred senior officers were evacuated by the US in the dramatic withdrawal from Kabul in August 2021.

Many Afghan soldiers fled to neighbouring countries and others went into hiding fearing reprisals from the Taliban for their loyalty to the collapsed government and the West.

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