KABUL – Afghanistan Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said of the generals whoretired this week, some of them were reserves at the recruitment departmentwhile others worked in lower levels and their services were no longerneeded, TOLONEWS has reported.
The draft law for retirement of 2,000 generals and high-ranking militaryofficers was finalized and approved by the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House ofParliament, in November last year.
The Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said currently there are 5,000educated youths who have applied to join the army.
“A big number of these generals were reserves at the recruitment departmentand were not working. Others were not in the army at all,” Waziri said.
“It means they were not included in the reform process and they wereinactive. Some of them were generals but were working in low levels.”
Ousted Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor meanwhile said “some people ingovernment misuse the name of the youths to achieve their own goals”,referring to government’s decision on pensioning off the generals.
“It is good that the youths come and (join the army), but they only use thename of youths to achieve their own goals,” Noor.
President Ashraf Ghani’s move was met with mixed reaction.
“How long should these people (generals) be in the army and in power? It isfine that they served, but eventually they should retire, and anopportunity should be provided for the young generation,” military affairsanalyst Mohammadagul Mujahid said.
“Among these 162 generals, there are elite people and the army will faceproblems after losing them,” military affairs analyst Jawed Kohistani said.
On Sunday, Ghani signed the retirement orders of 162 military generals andaccording to the defense ministry, the second and third phases ofretirement process will be implemented this year.
Based on the new retirement law, colonels will retire at the age of 54,major generals at the age of 58, lieutenant generals at 60 and generalswill retire at the age of 62.