After the Afghan government and army collapsed so quickly, the fate of the soldiers of this not-so-small-sized army is attracting great attention from the international media.
“U.S. intelligence did not anticipate the rapid collapse of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and now Washington has little opportunity to support its ally. This is a comment quoted by the AP news agency from the statement of a senior US Army officer, the above statement was made at a press conference on August 18.
Journalists asked where 300,000 US-trained Afghan soldiers had gone. This number includes both the Security Forces and the Afghan National Army – as of 2019, the official number is up to 180,000 people. “I don’t know of a single report that ever predicted that 300,000 Afghan troops would disappear in 11 days,” said the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milli.
Journalists then went on to ask how the United States could help its allies in Afghanistan, including local citizens who wanted to escape from the Taliban but could not. Currently, access to Kabul International Airport is blocked by Taliban checkpoints and there is a real threat to the lives of civilians by Talibani terrorists
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We currently do not have the capacity to move outside of Kabul airport and expand operations in the Afghan capital. We cannot go out and gather more people who want to move. disperse”. “However, we will continue to make concerted efforts to resolve the conflict with the Taliban and do everything we can to ensure that those who need to arrive at the airport have the necessary paperwork to pass through the checkpoints.”
It is necessary to reiterate the fact that in a very short time, the Afghan Armed Forces were completely defeated and ceased to exist in the face of a large-scale attack by the Islamic Taliban movement.
Some soldiers deserted, scattered across the country, some joined the Taliban, some died in battles or went missing, some left Afghanistan and sought asylum in neighboring countries, only a small number continued resistance.
According to preliminary statistics, the number of the Northern Coalition against the Taliban after being re-established was only about 7,000, but the commanders hope that after a while they will gather several tens of thousands of fighters who are the ex-soldier.
Earlier, former US President Donald Trump commented: “Afghan army gets a very good salary. Their pay is the biggest of all militaries in the world. But as soon as we stopped paying, they immediately stop fighting”.
According to Mr. Trump, it is clear that the Afghan Government Army is not fighting for their country but for money. Only a few have true ideals, but the percentage is so small.
In this regard, the 45th President of the United States called the current situation “a terrible era”. At the same time, Mr. Trump noted that it is impossible to give an accurate assessment of the defeat Washington suffered in Afghanistan.