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The Afghans Sent by Iran to Fight for Assad

(BBC Persian) Fariba Sahraei - Iran has sent thousands of Afghan men, mainly ethnic Hazaras recruited from impoverished migrant communities in Iran, to fight alongside Syrian government forces. Almost three million Afghans live in Iran as second-class citizens. They were offered Iranian passports if they joined the multi-national Shia Muslim militia that Iran has mobilized to support Syrian President Assad. After two weeks of basic training, the Afghan recruits are flown directly to Syria. Many have since fled the battlefield and joined the refugee trail to Europe. At a migrant camp in Greece, a clearly traumatized teenage veteran describes how Afghan fighters were used as first-wave shock troops and were effectively disposable. "We would take ground at great cost and then have to hand it over to the Syrian soldiers. But they would usually lose it back to ISIS after a day or two." Another Afghan fighter who had served a year in Syria said that when he finally got back to Iran, the Revolutionary Guards broke their promises and gave him a only 30-day temporary residency document instead of a passport.
2016-04-22 00:00:00
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