KABUL – Afghan Ministry of defence responds over US watchdog report ofthousands of ghost soldiers in Afghan Military.

The Ministry of Defense on Saturday rejected a report by a top US watchdogon the existence of “ghost soldiers” – nonexistent personnel – in thestructure of the Afghan National Army, saying more than 99 percentmembersof the Army have been recognized by the biometric system.

In a report to the US Congress on July 30, the Special Inspector Generalfor Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said the number of ANDSF troops fellby nearly 42,000 compared to the same period last year.

The report said that this quarter’s ANDSF strength decreased by 41,777personnel since approximately the same period in 2018, and by 50,277compared to about the same period in 2017.

According to the report, there are 180,869 Afghan National Army (ANA) and91,596 Afghan National Police (ANP) personnel enrolled and accounted for inAPPS as of May 25, 2019.