Correlation of Afghan military forces and Taliban

A senior official of the European Union (EU) said on August 10 that the Taliban rebel group controlled 65% of Afghan territory and threatened to take over 11 other provincial capitals, while US intelligence assessed that the Taliban could besiege

Afghan government soldiers and militiamen at a guard post in Herat province on July 30.

US officials believe that the Kabul government could collapse much faster than the initial estimate of 6 months from when Washington withdrew all its forces from Afghanistan.

Human

Afghan security forces, including the army, police and intelligence, numbered about 307,000 at the end of April, according to a report released last week by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

The Taliban has not announced its exact force, but UN Security Council monitoring agencies estimate the group has 55,000-85,000 fighters.

Budget

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and relies heavily on foreign aid.

Soldiers deploy from Afghan UH-60 helicopters during an exercise.

There are no clear statistics on the Taliban’s budget, but the insurgent group is believed to earn between $300 million and $1.5 billion a year through drug trafficking, protection and criminal activities, as well as taxation.

`Based on available information, it is clear that the Taliban does not have difficulty recruiting forces, as well as finding funds and purchasing weapons and equipment,` the UN Security Council report said.

The US accuses Pakistan and Iran of providing resources and advisors to the Taliban, but these countries all deny.

Equip weapons

The US spent tens of billions of dollars to rebuild and equip the Afghan army after overthrowing the Taliban government in the 2001 military campaign.

The Afghan government army possesses many advantages in weapons compared to its opponents, thanks to being equipped with a series of modern Western weapons such as assault rifles, night vision goggles, armored vehicles, artillery and mechanical reconnaissance.

The Taliban mainly relies on infantry weapons and light weapons that have been present in Afghanistan for decades, from conflicts with the Soviet Union in the 1979-1989 period and purchased from the black market.

Taliban took attack helicopters from India as a gift to Afghanistan

Taliban rebels next to Mi-24V helicopters captured from Afghan government troops in Kunduz province.

Suicide bombs and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are the Taliban’s most damaging weapons in the war with government troops and foreign forces.

Fighting spirit

The Afghan government army has relatively poor fighting spirit due to high casualties, corruption, desertion and recently the withdrawal of US and allied troops.

Meanwhile, Taliban units show outstanding cohesion, despite information about divisions within the rebels over the years.