Afghan Foreign Fighters Heavy Presence in Syria and Yemen
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Kabul Press?: These days, the news channels in Afghanistan are focused on the heavy presence of the Afghan Foreign Fighters in Syria and Yemen in the proxy war between the two regional powers; Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Based on the news and Kabul Press’s reliable sources, it’s believed that at least nine thousand Pashtun Foreign Fighters are being recruited by Saudi Arabia from the South and East of Afghanistan since 2015 that were deployed for the war in Yemen.
These Foreign Fighters mostly come from poor families in the East and South of Afghanistan who are being persuaded to defend the two holy shrines of the Muslims in the war against the Houthis.
In addition to the Pashtun fighters from the Eastern provinces villages, Hezb-e-Islami, a powerful Jihadi group under Gulbudin Hekmatyar’s leadership who’s known as “Kabul’s butcher” has claimed to have sent a couple of thousands of fighters to the war in Yemen to respond to the call of the Saudi Arabians for Jihad.
Hezb-e-Islami’s leader, Gulbudin Hekmatyar who returned to Kabul last May after years of bloody fighting against the Afghan Government, is claimed to have kept his strong ties with the Taliban and Haqqani group, despite his vow for peace process.
While the Afghan government does not seem to be eager to fight the Da’esh (ISIS) in the East and North of the country, there are rumors by the opposition leaders that the government itself supports and supplies the proclaimed Da’esh (ISIS) group in Afghanistan to utilize them against the Taliban.
So far many of the parliamentarians and the opposition leaders such as Latif Pedram, a prominent Tajik MP from the North and Zahir Qadir a powerful Pashtun MP from the East of the country have accused the Afghan Government for supporting the proclaimed Da’esh (ISIS) group in Afghanistan. They pointed their index fingers towards Hanif Atmar, the senior advisor for the Afghan National Security Council and Masoom Stanekzai, the chief of NDS (National Directorate of Security) which is the Afghan National Intelligence Agency who are both accused of supporting the Da’esh (ISIS) in Afghanistan.
Recently they’ve warned to reveal the classified documents they have in hand, that prove their accusations against the Afghan Government.
As the situation is worsening in the region, the Iran - Saudi proxy wars in Syria and Yemen have attracted thousands of foreign fighters from around the world including from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In this regional combat, Iran is also accused of recruiting Shiite militants from different countries for his proxy war in Syria.
Related stories from other sources:
BBC PERSIAN VIDEO REPOTAGE: Saudi Arabia has been recruiting thousands of Afghans for its proxy war in Yemen.
DAILY MAIL: Afghan militants vow to send ’thousands’ of fighters to Yemen
BBC WORLD SERVICE: Afghanistan fighters ’linked to Islamic State in Syria
THE WASHINGTON POST: An Afghan jihadist’s life and death in Iraq: ‘They misused his innocence
VICE NEWS: Afghan Refugees and Jihadis Are Reportedly Fighting on Opposite Sides of Syria’s War
WIKIPEDIA: Foreign fighters in the Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars
FOREIGN POLICY: Afghan Militants Join Syria’s Civil War, As If It Wasn’t Awful Enough
PVS REPORT: ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really?
RFERL REPORT:Militants In Afghanistan, Pakistan Claiming Allegiance To IS
