With the Russian navy struggling in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has taken drastic measures to bolster his forces. Final month, he introduced a partial mobilisation which is able to see lots of of hundreds of civilians with earlier navy expertise be part of the struggle. However Putin is not simply turning to his personal inhabitants. It was not too long ago reported that Russia has begun recruiting troopers who fled Afghanistan final 12 months because the US and UK forces withdrew from the nation.
Afghanistan’s elite commandos had been skilled by the US and UK, however when Western troops left final 12 months, the Afghan troopers had been focused by the Taliban because the group regained energy. This meant many had been compelled to flee the nation with the bulk making their method to Iran.
However now, the Russian authorities is providing these extremely skilled troopers money incentives amongst different issues to lure them into preventing for Moscow’s navy in Ukraine. Lynne O’Donnell, a journalist at Overseas Coverage, has reported extensively on the story.
Chatting with Monocle 24’s The Globalist podcast, she stated: “We’re speaking about between 20,000 and 30,000 elite, skilled, specialist troopers of the Afghanistan defence forces. They had been skilled by the US Navy SEALS in addition to Britain’s SAS.
“Every soldier price round $300,000 to coach, they usually had been skilled not solely in Afghanistan but additionally within the international locations they had been working with. They had been skilled in methods utilized by specialist western navy items like tactical operations, evening raids, navigational expertise, covert surveillance and interrogation.
The journalist additionally believes they may make an actual affect within the struggle. Varied experiences over the past eight months have informed of logistical points throughout the Russian navy.
Poorly geared up, poorly skilled troopers have been left with little route within the struggle. At first of the invasion, some Russian troops even claimed they’d no thought they had been about to invade a sovereign nation.
However these new Afghan troopers might make an actual distinction with their navy experience. Ms O’Donnell defined: “One of many former commando generals informed me that it is a potential game-changer [in Ukraine].
“There may be the Wagner Group which is a shady mercenary group that works for Putin, going into prisons in Russia and providing to cancel sentences in the event that they signal as much as struggle in Ukraine. These persons are not expert, they’re cannon fodder.
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“Lots of the talents that the Afghans would be capable of provide do not exist in Russia. It might definitely increase the tactical and strategic potential of the Russian military because it struggles in Ukraine.”
Nonetheless, Ms O’Donnell additionally stated that among the Afghan elite troopers are reluctant to assist the Russians given the nation’s chequered previous. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 below the pretext of preserving the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty – signed as a result of Moscow needed to maintain Afghanistan’s unpopular communist rulers in energy
After they had been ultimately overthrown, the Soviets invaded the nation. After a 10-year struggle, the Soviet Union retreated in 1989 having spent tens of millions and misplaced 15,000 troopers. Two million Afghans additionally misplaced their lives. The struggle has been described as ‘Russia’s Vietnam’.
It seems Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is headed for the same conclusion. Whereas there aren’t any universally accepted figures, Putin has misplaced tens of hundreds of troopers within the preventing in Ukraine.
