The Afghan Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Pashto: د اسلامي امارت وسله وال ځواکونه, Dari: نیروهای مسلح امارت اسلامی افغانستان)[3] and also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces, is the military of Afghanistan, commanded by the Taliban government from 1997 to 2001 and since August 2021. According to Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense, its total manpower is 170,000.
In April 1978 there was a coup, known as the Saur Revolution, orchestrated by members of the government loyal to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). This led to a full-scale Soviet invasion in December 1979 by the 40th Army, plus the 103rd Guards Airborne Division. In 1981 the total strength of the Afghan Armed Forces was around 85,000 troops according to The New York Times.[4] The Afghan Army had around 35–40,000 soldiers, mostly conscripts; the Afghan Air Force had around 7,000 personnel; and the total of all military personnel was around 87,000 in 1984.[5] Throughout the 1980s, the Afghan Armed Forces was heavily involved in fighting against the mujahideen rebel groups who were largely backed by the United States and trained by the Pakistan Armed Forces. The rebel groups were fighting to force the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan as well as to remove the Soviet-backed government of President Mohammad Najibullah. Due to large number of defectors, the Afghan Armed Forces in 1985 were reduced to no more than about 47,000, the actual figure probably being lower.[6] The Air Force had over 150 combat aircraft with about 7,000 officers who were supported by up to 5,000 Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force and Czechoslovak Air Force advisers.[7]
Weapons supplies were made available to the mujahideen rebel groups through numerous countries; the United States purchased all of Israel's captured Soviet weapons clandestinely, and then funnelled the weapons to the mujahideen rebels, while Egypt upgraded their own Army's weapons, and sent the older weapons to the mujahideen, Turkey sold its World War II stockpiles, and the British and Swiss provided Blowpipe missiles and Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns respectively, after they were found to be poor models for their own forces.[9] China provided the most relevant weapons, likely due to their own experience with guerrilla warfare, and kept meticulous record of all the shipments.[9]
Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 the mujahideen rebel attacks continued and grew in intensity.[10] For several years the Afghan Armed Forces had actually increased their effectiveness past levels ever achieved during the Soviet military presence. The eleven-year Siege of Khost ended with the city's fall in March 1991. But the government was dealt a major blow when Abdul Rashid Dostum, a leading general, switched allegiances to the mujahideen forces in 1992 and together they captured the city of Kabul.[11]
The fall of the Moscow-backed regime in 1992 disintegrated the state as well as the army. Bits and pieces of the fragmented military either disappeared or joined the warring factions that were locked in a drawn-out power struggle. The warring factions were composed of odd assortments of armed groups with varying levels of loyalties, political commitment, professional skills, and organizational integrity.[12]
The Taliban movement arose around Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and defeated the various armed movements there that had squabbled since the dissolution of the previous Afghan Army and Afghan Air Force. They moved to confront Ahmed Shah Massoud's forces by marching to the gates of Kabul in March 1995.[15]
During the 1990s the Taliban maintained 400 T-54/55 and T-62 tanks and more than 200 armoured personnel carriers.[16][17] The Taliban also began training its own army and commanders. After the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001, private armies loyal to warlords gained more and more influence. In mid-2001, Ali Jalali wrote:[18]
The army (as a state institution, organized, armed, and commanded by the state) does not exist in Afghanistan today. Neither the Taliban-led "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" nor the "Islamic State of Afghanistan" headed by the ousted President Rabbani has the political legitimacy or administrative efficiency of a state. The militia formations they command are composed of odd assortments of armed groups with varying level of loyalties, political commitment, professional skills, and organizational integrity. Many of them feel free to switch sides, shift loyalties, and join or leave the group spontaneously. The country suffers from the absence of a top political layer capable of controlling individual and group violence. ... Although both sides identify their units with military formations of the old regime, there is hardly any organizational or professional continuity from the past. But these units really exist in name only ... in fact only their military bases still exist, accommodating and supporting an assortment of militia groups.
Taliban Humvee in the streets of Kabul following its fall, 2021
The army under the Taliban Islamic Movement was inaugurated on 8 November 2021 as the Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,[23] which is also referred to as the Islamic National Army, the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army. The army itself relies heavily on captured hardware from the defeated Afghan National Army. Approximately 2,000 vehicles fell into Taliban hands after the Fall of Kabul, including the Humvee, M1117 Guardian, MaxxPro MRAP and Oshkosh ATV. In terms of infantry equipment, captured items include the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, night-vision goggles, body armor suits, communication equipment and shoulder-mounted grenade launchers. These U.S. made firearms are reportedly replacing Russian made AK-47s and AK-74s carried by most Taliban fighters.[24]
From 1 September 2021 to 10 January 2022, 15,102 newly trained fighters were inducted into the Islamic Emirate Army as calculated on the official site, the average number of new soldiers inducted is 120 soldiers per week not counting paramilitaries.[citation needed]
Formation and structure
Currently the conventional land forces of the Islamic Emirate Army are subdivided into eight corps, mostly superseding the previous corps of the former Afghan National Army. The conventional land warfare corps of the Islamic Emirate Army were renamed in November 2021 by Mullah Yaqoob, Acting Minister of Defense.[25] They are listed below.[26]
All the corps beyond Kabul can be definitively tied to previous Afghan National Army (ANA) formations. However the number '313' was not utilized by the ANA, in Kabul or beyond, and the only former Taliban unit with that number was the Badri 313 Battalion. Other reported units include the Victorious Force Unit[31] and the Panipat unit.[32]
The Taliban created and ran a small air force in from 1996 to 2001. In late 2001 Operation Crescent Wind was the initial series of U.S. air strikes on Afghanistan. Initial U.S. targets included command and control nodes, air defenses, as well as the modest Air Force, with the airports of Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Zaranj and Mazar-i-Sharif being targeted. The Taliban were believed to have had 40 pilots capable of getting some 50 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (ASCC "Fishbed") and Sukhoi Su-22s (ASCC "Fitter") airborne, though there was less concern about these as traditional interceptors as there was about them eventually being loaded with explosives and used to suicide bomb American encampments.[36]
On 11 January 2022, the air force successfully repaired and flew unserviceable aircraft which were abandoned by the US Army and the former Afghan National Army after Kabul fell to the Taliban.[39][clarification needed] A new Taliban commander of the Afghan Air Force spoke as part of the announcement.
According to a report from the University of Oxford, the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999. During the civil war that preceded the Taliban regime, thousands of orphaned boys joined various militia for "employment, food, shelter, protection and economic opportunity." The report said that during its initial period the Taliban "long depended upon cohorts of youth". Witnesses stated that each land-owning family had to provide one young man and $500 in expenses. In August of 1999, approximately 5000 students aged between 15 and 35 left madrassas in Pakistan to join the Taliban.[41]
Malkasian, Carter (2021). The American War in Afghanistan: A History. Oxford University Press.
Nyrop, Richard F.; Seekins, Donald M. (January 1986). Area Handbook Series: Afghanistan: A Country Study. Fort Belvoir, VA: Defense Technical Information Center.
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