Iran pays Afghans to fight in Syria, Iraq, Yemen

Iran pays Afghan refugees to present in Syria, Iraq and Yemen wars, head of Mushrekat-e Mili party said.

Najibullah Kabuli, head of Musharekat-e Mili party said that Iran has been recruiting “thousands” of Afghan refugees to fight in Syria, Iraq and Yemen offering 500 dollars a month.

Members of Musharekat-e Mili in a demonstration in Kabul called Afghan government and the United Nations to stop Iran not to persuade Afghans present in Arabic wars.

Musharekat-e Mili party warned that if national unity government officials does not pay serious attention regarding the issue they will wildly protest.

Iran’s role differs in Iraq, where it bolsters Shiite Muslim militias, versus Syria, where it reportedly supports Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. In Yemen, Iranian agents are reportedly trying to help overthrow the American-backed Sunni government, and such efforts are taking place against the backdrop of ongoing international negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

There have been a few reports to that effect in the international news media over the past months, detailing recruitment efforts mainly by the Iranian government among Hazaras in order to bolster the Assad regime’s manpower. However, there has never been evidence of Afghan fighters actually present in Syria – until now.

On 22 May, the Wall Street Journal published a report about Iranian efforts to recruit Shiite Afghans to fight for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

It thus seems probable that Shiite Afghans are also approached for recruitment to fight in Syria. The Wall Street Journal report offered details of the recruitment policy, but gave no evidence of Afghan fighters actually present in Syria. There is also no information on the overall number of Afghan fighters in Syria from any side nor any official announcements about their presence from the government in Damascus. According to sources within the Syrian regime, its intention is to keep the presence of Afghan fighters a secret. This might be because the impression is increasingly gaining ground that the Syrian army is depending on foreign forces and would loose the war without their help.

There have been, however, approximately 2,000 mostly Hazara Afghan refugees living illegally (that is, without Syrian papers) in Syria since the fighting broke out in 2011, many of them stranded on their way to Turkey and Europe, most of them living in or around the capital Damascus and some seeking shelter near the Zainab shrine.

Reported by Nematullah Ahmadi