"The Thrill of Victory & the Agony of Defeat:" The Agony Part Fits Afghanistan Today

 

Afghan Soldier and Thousand-yard Stare 

(Who let him and his comrades down)

Most of what I post on this topic is at this site, but I also some data at other sites such as here and here.

I try to point out and underscore where the cause and blame and effect of the fall of Afghanistan lies – because it’s critical to know the full truthful story – since it now reflects badly on the U.S. and CINC President Joe Biden, who is at the center of this ugly and nasty mess with tons of insults (mostly operatives on the GOP side of the ledger).

I will continue to fill-in the blanks by putting together a full and complete picture of how the Afghans failed so miserably that has led to this Taliban takeover.

This is another fill-in-the-blanks update here from Military.com with this headline:

“Why the US-Trained Afghan National Army Have Been Defeated with Ease by the Taliban”

Details below with various links therein:

U.S. officials previously said they didn't expect any provincial capital to be seized until fall at the earliest, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Afghan forces should have had the upper hand in numbers, funding, and arms. So how did the Taliban gain ground so quickly and totally take over? 

Since its invasion in 2001, the United States has invested almost $83 billion on training and arming Afghanistan's defense forces, according to Foreign Policy (FP).

Biden said recently: “We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools – let me emphasize: all the tools.”

Experts told FP that the problem lies not in the training or equipment provided to Afghanistan, but in local mismanagement, corruption, and demoralized soldiers who often lack the will to fight. 

Plus, Afghan police and the Afghan military have not been paid for months by either the Ministry of Interior (for the police) or Ministry of Defense (for the military), and many Afghan forces are often even not supplied with adequate arms, food, and water.

Many soldiers and police are also posted to areas far from their homes, to which they have no connection, thus some choose to abandon their posts and return home to defend their families.

There is also a widespread lack of faith in the government, with officials across the country stating they will not fight to defend President Ashraf Ghani's government (of course Ghani fled and now is reported to be the UAE).

Enayat Najafizada, founder of Kabul-based think tank “The Institute of War and Peace Studies,” told Foreign Policy: “The issue of legitimacy is very important. The 2020 presidential election that returned Ghani for a second term was seen as corrupt, which has been capitalized on by the Taliban.”

Those two facts combined with corrupt officials pilfering funds has led to widespread distrust of the government. For example, residents in Herat and Kandahar told Al Jazeera that they were shocked at how quickly their cities fell and said government forces did not put up a fight.

While official records state that the Afghan security forces number over 300,000, the BBC reported that the true number is likely lower.

Afghan forces have a difficult history of high casualties and desertions, according to the BBC, and corrupt officials often claim salaries of non-existent troops, called “Ghost soldiers.”

Comparatively, the U.S. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, estimates that the Taliban have 60,000 core fighters, with additional militia groups and supporters that could swell that number to 200,000.

Afghan forces are overstretched, and the Guardian reports say the Taliban have been shooting down air force planes and assassinating pilots, who often have years of training and are difficult to replace.

Although lower in numbers, the Taliban gained momentum after a series of successes such as seizing weapon caches from Afghan forces, which are often Western supplied.

Although U.S. forces left with their “most-sophisticated equipment, the Taliban offensive has allowed the group to seize various vehicles, Humvees, small arms, and light weapons, as well as tons of ammo” report from the “Conflict Armament Research Center” re: AFP.

The staff at the U.S. embassy in Kabul were told to destroy sensitive material in case the Taliban seized the capital (Business Insider reports).

The United States further announced it would send 3,000 troops to evacuate personnel from its embassy in Kabul.

The UK has sent 600 troops for the same mission of UK personnel.

My 2 Cents: Good rundown here, don’t you think?

There will be much more as time passes.

As I said it’s important to fill in the gaps and get the full picture of how this horrible outcome came about.

So, stay tuned, and thanks for stopping by.