Brigadier (retd) Aslam Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW), said on Tuesday that unemployed youth from poor nations are joining the Russia-Ukraine war in large numbers. He said human smugglers are promising youth good jobs in Europe and then delivering them to the armies of both warring nations. Aslam Khan said in a statement issued here today that this tendency can’t be stopped as the unemployed youth of poor countries will continue to become part of this war for money, irrespective of their political affiliations.
He said youth should be prevented from becoming the fuel for the war. The family members are not even informed in the event of the death of a person in a foreign land.
Human traffickers transport youth to Russia on the promise of a good future in Europe. The youths are told they are being sent to Europe via Russia, where they will get a huge salary.
On reaching Russia, they are handed over to the army after snatching their passports. They are sent to barracks and given brief training, after which they are sent to the front line.
Similarly, many young people are being handed over to the Ukrainian army. Young people from the same country fight and die on both sides to feed their families.
Aslam Khan said that apart from human trafficking, both countries are attracting the youth of poor countries in various ways, including citizenship after one year of military service. Retired people with military backgrounds also have a heavy salary in the army.
He informed me that fifteen thousand people from only one country in the SAARC region had joined the Russian army. In comparison, at one time, more than twenty thousand people from dozens of countries joined the Ukrainian military, many of whom died.
He disclosed that the former soldiers of the National Army Commando Corps who were abandoned when the Taliban took over the country are being drawn into this conflict.
Most Afghan National Defence and Security Forces were left behind despite spending about $90 billion on training, except for a few evacuated.
Twenty to thirty thousand volunteer commandos remained in the war-torn nation. Since these men are currently “jobless and hopeless” and waiting to be resettled, recruiters will find them an easy target. He said that until the economic conditions improve, nothing can stop the youth from becoming the fuel of this war.