With just 80,000 troops the Taliban managed to defeat the huge 300,699 serving Afghan forces in a matter of weeks as the world witnessed Afghan military commanders surrendered without a fight. Instead of putting the entire blame on the withdrawal of US military forces, the truth is that the government troops were outmaneuvered by a more adaptive military organisation.
The Taliban of 2021 is different than that of the 1990s – better equipped, highly motivated ideologically, and more proficient in integrating military power.
The US aid spending watchdog spent USD 88.3 billion on security-related reconstruction in Afghanistan up to March 2021. Last month itself the US watchdog had warned that it was very difficult for them to access whether the Afghan National Defense and Security forces (ANDSF) could operate independently of the US forces when required.
And now when the Afghan National Defense and Security forces completely crumbled before the Taliban…