MoF calls on neighboring countries to not send Afghan refugees to Syria war

Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign (MoF) has demanded the host countries of Afghan refugees to prevent threatening Afghans to go for fighting in Syria’s war.

Syria’s opposition parties in an official letter urged the Afghan government to prevent Afghan citizens involving in Syria’s fighting.

The Spokesman of MoF confirms of receiving the letter and the presence of Afghan refugees in Syria’s war.

“This issue is completely clear that the Afghan citizens send to Syria for fighting,” said Shekib Mustaghni, spokesman of MoF.

According to Human’s Rights Watch, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has recruited thousands of undocumented Afghans living there to fight in Syria since at least November 2013.

Human Rights Watch in late 2015 interviewed more than two dozen Afghans who had lived in Iran about recruitment by Iranian officials of Afghans to fight in Syria.

Some said they or their relatives had been coerced to fight in Syria and either had later fled and reached Greece, or had been deported to Afghanistan for refusing.

Iran has always claimed it is participating in an advisory capacity in Syria, dispatching senior commanders to plan and oversee operations, but the Afghan involvement shows it is using other methods.

Recruitment is taking place on a daily basis in Mashhad and Qom, two Iranian cities with the largest population of Afghan refugees. Mashhad, the second most populous city in Iran, is only three hours’ drive from the country’s border with Afghanistan.

Most Iran-based Afghans, who are also Shia, are not going to Syria to risk their lives on religious grounds but because of the financial and stability benefits that their involvement will bring to them and their families.

Nearly 1 million Afghans are registered as refugees in Iran but the country is believed to host at least 2 million more who are living illegally.