{"id":120405,"date":"2016-06-30T13:59:23","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T10:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/syrianpc.com\/en\/?p=120405"},"modified":"2016-06-30T13:59:23","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T10:59:23","slug":"iran-covertly-recruits-afghan-soldiers-to-fight-in-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/?p=120405","title":{"rendered":"Iran covertly recruits Afghan soldiers to fight in Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran is covertly recruiting hundreds of Afghan Shias in Afghanistan to fight for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad<\/a>, drawing them out of their own conflict-ridden country and into another war in which Afghanistan plays no official part.<\/p>\n

The Afghan fighters are often impoverished, religiously devout or ostracised from society, looking for money, social acceptance and a sense of purpose that they are unable to find at home.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s recruitment<\/a> of Afghan migrants and refugees within its own borders has been documented<\/a>. But similar Iranian activities inside Afghanistan had previously gone unreported.<\/p>\n

Iran denies using \u201cany kind of allurement or coercion\u201d, or to otherwise recruiting Afghans to fight in Syria<\/a>, according to an embassy spokesman in Kabul. But a Guardian investigation can reveal both how Iran coaxes Afghan men into war, and the motives that prompt these men to travel thousands of miles to join a battle they might not return from.<\/p>\n

Central in this recruitment are men such as Jawad. A police officer by day and self-declared \u201ctravel agent\u201d when off-duty, Jawad said he acted for a year as middleman for Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) when in 2014 it formed an Afghan Shia militia, the Fatemiyoun Division<\/a>, to fight alongside Syrian government forces.<\/p>\n

From his \u201ctravel agency\u201d on the second floor of a non-descript office building, Jawad connected combat willing men with Iran\u2019s embassy in Kabul. The embassy assisted with visas and travel, and paid Jawad a commission for his troubles.<\/p>\n

In return for fighting, Afghans are offered a residence permit in Iran<\/a> and about $500 monthly salary. \u201cMost go to Syria for the money,\u201d said Jawad, wearing stonewashed jeans and replica Ray-Bans. \u201cOthers go to defend the shrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a Kabul teahouse, Mohsen \u2013 who was recruited in Iran \u2013 showed phone photos of himself in Syria, wearing fatigues and painted with kohl around the eyes. During his third and most recent trip to Syria, in February, he was injured three times. One bullet was still lodged in his thigh. He carried the other one as a necklace.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not doing anything wrong. The holy places belong to us. We\u2019re going to defend them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite opposition from family, intelligence and politicians, young Afghans will likely continue to drift toward Syria, as long as hopes of a safe, prosperous future at home remain dim.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who go leave nothing behind, they have lost all hope,\u201d said Younis, an unemployed university graduate in Kabul who knows 20 people that went to Syria from Iran, including two cousins and an uncle who were killed. All were addicts or had deep family problems, he said.<\/p>\n

Facing discrimination, drug abuse<\/a>, and the stigma that comes with it, some see war as the only way to do something out of their own volition. Going to Syria is the ultimate act of desperation, Younis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey either die and become martyrs, or they will get a better life,\u201d with salary and residency in Iran, he said. \u201cThey want a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n

the Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran is covertly recruiting hundreds of Afghan Shias in Afghanistan to fight for Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, drawing them out of their own conflict-ridden country and into another war in which Afghanistan plays no official part. The Afghan fighters are often impoverished, religiously devout or ostracised from society, looking for money, social acceptance and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11972],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-newspapers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/training.syrianpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}