Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF): Routed and Collapsing

American authorities state that they are concerned over the disappearance of dozens ANSF officers that came to the U.S. for military training. This statement was made by Pentagon spokesperson, Adam Stump. He states that 44 Afghan officers went missing after they were brought to the United States for training. He added that while soldiers of other […]

American authorities state that they are concerned over the disappearance of dozens ANSF officers that came to the U.S. for military training.

This statement was made by Pentagon spokesperson, Adam Stump. He states that 44 Afghan officers went missing after they were brought to the United States for training. He added that while soldiers of other nations also go AWOL while here however the number of missing Afghans is very concerning and out of the ordinary. The spokesman added that hence forth they will look at ways to strengthen screening procedures to prevent future desertions.

In reality the disappearance of a few dozen soldiers is not such that it should cause anxiety for the Americans. Rather this is the symptom of a larger problem. America has spent billions of dollars training a security force to mentally and physically serve American interests. Yet at the earliest opportunity these soldiers abandon their ranks.

The Americans have come to realize that all their blood, treasure, tears and sweat in Afghanistan was for naught since the soldiers they wanted to leave behind to continue their fight are of the worst quality. Current estimates suggest that every day between 65 and 75 government employees including soldiers abandon their ranks and either go missing or worst – join the Taliban.

These numbers only reflect desertions, as for those that die or are routed in battle or are killed as a result of insider attacks then those numbers are even higher. The failure of the ANSF is a depressing site and understandably the Pentagon will express its despair through such statements. Over the last few days we have seen hundreds of soldiers in Konduz, Baghlan, Jowzjan, Badghis, Farah and Helmand either join the Taliban ranks or abandon their posts and go AWOL or completely desert their forces. It will not be an exaggeration to say that over the past week entire brigades have simply disappeared.

A few days ago a ANSF commander by the name of Toofan stated that: “I prayed to Allah to guide me to a righteous and just path. And so it was with the help of Allah Almighty that I decided to abandon the ranks of the infidels and joined the Mujahideen. So I – along with dozens of my comrades – left our security post and surrendered to the Taliban”. He added that “I am fully correct in declaring that the infidels can never be the true friends of Afghans. I will fight against them till my last breath.”