TerrorismVeterans of U.S. Special Forces say Chechen militants are the most ferocious
Since the beginning of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Operation forces have fought against Chechen jihadists based in Pakistan’s tribal areas and fighting alongside Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. Veterans of U.S. Special Forces say that Chechen fighters were more determined and ferocious than other Islamists. Some scholars dispute these reports, pointing out that there were no Chechen among militants captured in Afghanistan, but rather Russian-speaking Uzbeks and Tajiks. Other scholars say that the fact that there were no captured Chechen militants is indication that they are zealots who fight to the death rather than let themselves be captured.
Since the beginning of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Operation forces have fought against Chechen jihadists based in Pakistan’s tribal areas and fighting alongside Taliban and al-Qaeda militants.
Special Operations missions are classified, but an active-duty senior Special Operations officer told ABC News that “Chechens were a fair percentage of the overall enemy population early in Operation Enduring Freedom.”
Chechen jihadists were considered more ferocious and less likely to surrender. “Chechens are a different breed,” a Special Forces soldier who has fought them told ABC News. “They fight till they die. They have more passion, more discipline and less regard for lives,” said the soldier, who did ten tours hunting high-value targets in Afghanistan. “A few of them could have just given up but decided they needed to die.”
About two years ago, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan reported that Chechen jihadists were killed alongside Arabs in a major battle. U.S. intelligence reports released by Wikileaks reveal that Chechens served as trainers and fighters, crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan. A U.S. Special Operations officer with nine deployments to Afghanistan compared Chechen jihadists to the Viet Cong guerrillas who fought U.S. Special Forces in the Vietnam War. “What I always appreciated was their lack of tether. They will transplant anywhere. I don’t think they ate or were even clear as to why they fight, wherever it is, but they’re fighting most of the time. It’s just a fire in their bellies. It’s what they do,” said the veteran Special Forces operator.
The classified nature of U.S. Special Operations missions have led many to dispute the accuracy of stories of Chechen jihadists fighting in Afghanistan. While under contract with the U.S. military and CIA, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth scholar Brian Glyn Williams found no evidence of Chechen fighters in Afghanistan. “I think the lack of evidence is telling. There is a total absence of any names or anything tangible,” Williams told ABC News. There is a possibility that al Qaeda militants who spoke Russian, often a common language for foreign fighters from the former Soviet Union, may have been considered Chechen but were actually Uzbeks and Tajiks.
The involvement of Chechen jihadists in Afghanistan is a concern for U.S. operations in the Middle East. News reports have confirmed that Chechen veterans of the war in Afghanistan are now waging war in Syria against Bashar al Assad’s troops. “It’s safe to say that anyone from the Caucasus who’s left the region and ‘gone global’ would likely see the United States — and U.S. civilians — as legitimate targets,” said Christopher Swift, a Georgetown University scholar and researcher on Afghanistan and militants in the North Caucasus. “This would be particularly true for those who may have fought against U.S. Forces anywhere, including Afghanistan.”
