Is Russia Doing More For US-Trained Afghan Special Forces Than America Is?

Nobody could have predicted that Russia would recruit some of those same US-taxpayer-funded special forces from South Asia to fight against the US’ other taxpayer-funded proxies in Eastern Europe. The whole thing sounds unbelievable, but sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Foreign Policy’s report on Tuesday alleging that Russia is actively recruiting US-trained Afghan special forces would ironically mean that Moscow is doing more for these taxpayer-funded servicemen than America is if there’s any truth to these claims. Biden abandoned up to 30,000 members of the National Army Commando Corps who were trained to Navy Seal standards despite knowing very well that their lives were in danger due to the credible chance that the Taliban would exact retribution against them.  

It was a major scandal at the time that’s since been swept under the rug due to the incessant information warfare campaign that’s been waged against Russia since the start of its special operation in Ukraine. Nevertheless, this sensitive issue is clearly creeping back into the news cycle ahead of the midterms because of how appalled average Americans are at the thought of Russia recruiting the same proxy force that billions of dollars’ worth of their taxes were spent training to elite standards.

It's impossible for any objective observer to ignore the implications connected with these reports. First, the US made an enemy out of up to 30,000 special forces that its own military trained by abandoning them to the Taliban. Second, they were left in Afghanistan instead of being evacuated to America despite passing prior security clearances that qualified them for their training. And third, Russia is allegedly helping these same US-trained special forces by giving them a stable employment offer.

There was never any reason to abandon America’s own allies to what could have been a fate even worse than death considering how intensely the Taliban hates those Afghans who it regards as traitors. They were obviously vetted and had already proved their loyalty to the US but were left behind in spite of being model immigrants had they been allowed to relocate. This created a massive pool of elite troops for recruitment by Russia or whoever is reportedly looking to supplement their forces.

To be clear, the latest claims might just be cleverly created fake news intended to add false credence to previously discredited claims alleging that Russia’s supposedly suffered massive casualties and is thus desperately searching to replenish its depleted forces. That said, the argument can also be made that there’s probably some truth to Foreign Policy’s report since it casts the ruling Democrat elite that this outlet is considered very close to in an extremely negative light ahead of the upcoming midterms.

It's inconceivable that they’d concoct an entirely false report for the purpose of smearing Russia that also served to remind Americans about how Biden abandoned tens of thousands of allied taxpayer-funded special forces a little over a year ago and then publish it at the exact moment that his party is expected to suffer a landslide defeat. Foreign Policy could easily have concocted an equally false report about Russia that didn’t have any politically negative consequences for the ruling Democrat elite.

For this reason, objective observers shouldn’t dismiss these claims out of hand like many might have otherwise been inclined to do considering how absurd the optics appear to be on the surface. After all, nobody could have predicted that Russia would recruit some of those same US-taxpayer-funded special forces from South Asia to fight against the US’ other taxpayer-funded proxies in Eastern Europe. The whole thing sounds unbelievable, but sometimes truth is indeed stranger than fiction.