KABUL- Afghan *President Ashraf Ghani has issued orders on the formationof a territorial army based on which over 36,000 recruits will be hired inthree phases.*
The formation of the new Army comes at a time when security forces havebeen struggling to keep the Afghan Taliban away from the major capitals.
In response to the move, military experts expressed concerns around therecruitment and management of such a force.
Presently over 190,000 soldiers serve in the structures of the embattledAfghan National Army (ANA) which is tackling insurgents on multiple frontsacross the country.
“An order by the president has been issued and is being executed. Work isbeing done to draw up the structure. A commission has been tasked to workon it,” said defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri.
The new force will be similar to the Afghan Local Police (ALP) which wasestablished in 2010 and falls under the Ministry of Interior.
“The concern is what kind of people are going to be hired and recruited,what kind of people are going to be trained, what kind of people are goingto be equipped and what kind of jobs skills will they have,” said militaryexpert Mirza Mohammad Yarmand.
“Such a plan will not be in the interests of Afghanistan – that we movetowards building militia forces. People who are newly recruited will workin the interests of local lawbreakers, in the interest of politicians andmembers of parliament and they will consider only their own people,”another expert Mohammad Agul Mujahid said.
Reacting to these concerns, Waziri said that members of the territorialarmy will be hired from among former soldiers and that the management andleadership issues will be tackled by them.
“An incumbent officer of the national army will be hired as theircommander. The defense ministry can keep him as the commander for onemonth, two months or five months or reshuffle him and replace him withsomeone else,” added Waziri.
According to the ministry of defense, these forces will be hired at aprovince level and they will wear Afghan National Army (ANA) uniforms. Theywill be between the ages of 20 and 40.
With the formation of the new force, the total number of Afghan NationalSecurity Forces (ANSF) will increase to 390,000 officers, making the AfghanArmed Forces among the largest Armies in the World.