The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has assessed collapse of the Afghan security forces. According to SIGAR, corruption, dependence on US army, and Ashraf Ghani’s ethnocentric appointments impacted morale and capabilities of security forces.
Despite years of training and supply of modern warfare by the US, the Afghan army lost the ability to resist the Taliban insurgents and collapsed when the withdrawal of all US forces was underway.
The fall of the well-equipped Afghan army has raised many questions and in the last year and a half Afghan and foreign civil and military officials have been talking about it.
In the SIGAR report, Ashraf Ghani's government has been criticised for not reducing the dependence of the Afghan army on American forces and for not having a "national security strategy" for the post-foreign forces era.
SIGAR stressed that former President Ashraf Ghani often replaced commanders of the National Army and appointed people loyal to him based on ethnicity, which led to the politicisation of the army.
SIGAR believes that while corruption had weakened the Afghan army, there had not been any political will to fight it.
SIGAR has also criticised the United States for keeping the army dependent on foreign forces.
According to SIGAR, after signing the Doha agreement with the Taliban in 2020, the international forces airstrikes decreased and the Taliban started taking control of more territories in Afghanistan. SIGAR believes that the Afghan army had not been used to fighting the Taliban without air support.
On the other hand, it became difficult for the Afghan army to equip the troops on the battlefield because it did not have enough air support capabilities.
In 2019, the US conducted nearly 7,500 airstrikes across Afghanistan, and it facilitated the Afghan army to advance in the battlefields and take control of more territories.
According to SIGAR's assessment, the Taliban utilised the tactical, leadership, and logistical weaknesses of the Afghan army. The group also focused on media and social media in psychological warfare against the Afghan security forces and weakened more the morale of the soldiers.
SIGAR added that despite spending 90 billion dollars in 20 years, the US built an army in Afghanistan whose structure had been similar to the US army. However, the Afghan army lacked the facilities, leadership, and skills available in the US army.
