WASHINGTON – The number of Afghan security forces decreased by nearly 11percent in the past year, the US government’s top watchdog on Afghanistansaid on Tuesday, an indication of the difficulty Kabul will have in dealingwith its precarious security situation.
Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 26 people onMonday, including nine journalists who had arrived to report on the firstexplosion and were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber.
The attacks, a week after 60 people were killed as they waited at a voterregistration centre in the city, underlined mounting insecurity despiterepeated government pledges to tighten defences.
The attacks in rapid succession were a grim reminder of the strength ofboth the Taliban and Islamic State’s emerging Afghanistan branch to wreakviolence despite stepped up air attacks under US President Donald Trump’snew policy for the 16-year-old war.
In a report released on Tuesday, the Special Inspector General forAfghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, said the number of forces in theAfghan National Defense and Security forces (ANDSF), which includes thearmy, air force and police, totalled an estimated 296,400 personnel as ofJanuary. That was a drop of 10.6 percent compared to the same month in 2017.
The authorized strength of the ANDSF is 334,000 personnel.
The United States has for nearly two decades been seeking to build Afghansecurity forces capable of defending and holding territory.
“Building up the Afghan forces is a top priority for the US and ourinternational allies, so it is worrisome to see Afghan force strengthdecreasing,” John Sopko, the head of SIGAR, told Reuters.
Thousands more US troops have been sent to Afghanistan to help train thearmy, and commanders have been given greater authority to carry out airstrikes against the militants in a major reversal of the previous policy ofphased withdrawal of American forces.
Publicly, US officials have presented an optimistic view of the situationin Afghanistan. The top US general in Afghanistan said late last year thatthe country had “turned the corner.”
Asked what his goal in Afghanistan was in the next year, US DefenseSecretary Jim Mattis told a Congressional hearing he wanted “a more capableAfghan force, between their military and their police (and) the violencelevels going down.”
On Monday, Mattis said the spate of recent attacks had been expected andthe militants were “on their backfoot.”
“This is the normal stuff by people who cannot win at the ballot box, sothey turn to bombs,” Mattis said.
Privately, however, US officials have been more circumspect.
US intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, saidthat despite extensive US training and support, the vast majority of Afghanforces are incapable of preventing the Taliban from retaking much of theterritory the militant group lost after the United States invaded thecountry in 2001.
“While Afghan forces are stronger now than they were a decade ago, theycontinue to struggle in a big way. Ultimately, that’s a failure of USpolicy,” said Michael Kugelman, with the Wilson Center think tank inWashington. – Agencies