Report: Iran recruiting Afghans to fight in Syria
WASHINGTON - Iran is recruiting Afghan refugees to fight in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday. In exchange, Iran is offering them stipends of $500 a month and residency permits, the paper said, quoting Afghans and Western officials.
Details of the recruitment drive by the elite Revolutionary Guards were posted this week on a blog catering to Afghan refugees in Iran, the Journal said.
It said this was confirmed by the office of Grand Ayatollah Mohaghegh Kabuli, an Afghan religious leader in the Iranian holy city of Qom. The paper quoted a Western official in Iran as saying recruiting Afghans was part of a strategy to send poor foot soldiers to the battle front. (AFP)
