The Paper's reporter Nan Boyi
On August 13, 2021, local time, Herat, Afghanistan, Taliban militants occupied Herat and gathered near government offices in police cars. Visual China figure
The Afghan Taliban's "overwhelming" offensive has embarrassed the United States. After the war in Afghanistan, the United States spent a lot of military money to help the Afghan government build an army. The U.S. has allegedly invested up to $89 billion in training the Afghan government over the past 20 years.
Reuters reported on August 15 that the collapse of Afghan government forces has given answers to the question of "whether U.S. efforts to help build an afghan army over the past 20 years have been successful."
U.S. military officers have long feared that rampant corruption in some of Afghanistan's military and political top brass would weaken soldiers' confidence. The latter face problems such as low wages, lack of food, unstable supplies and the risk of staying in isolated outposts for months or even years before being attacked by the Taliban at any time.
For many years, hundreds of Afghan government soldiers were killed every month. But as long as there is "international support," government forces will continue to fight. Even if Afghan government forces do not establish standards of rescue and care in Western militaries, they are determined. However, once the US military and other Western troops withdrew, the government army completely lost confidence.
One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Are you willing to give your life for leaders who don't pay on time and are more interested in their future (than in their country)?" ”
A Taliban commander said government forces began to collapse as soon as U.S. troops withdrew. "They don't have any ideology other than to defraud Americans of their money." The Taliban militant said.
Reuters noted that the state of affairs in Afghanistan highlighted a failure of the United States to build a combat force with aggressive and well-trained leadership, high-tech weapons and seamless logistical support with its own highly specialized military.
Although there are about 300,000 Afghan government troops, the actual number is much lower. The regular army's desertion rate is getting higher and higher, and more cities are caught in the hands of the Taliban, which also leads to the continuous diversion of elite special forces.
As government forces disintegrated, hastily recruited local militias were also engaged in combat. But these militias have kept Western countries wary because they are more loyal to Afghanistan's traditional political model and trust in personal, local or ethnic ties. In the eyes of Western countries, these are all factors that can easily lead to corruption and abuse of power. These militias were ultimately less effective than government forces.
In fact, reuters said, whether it is realistic to build a Western-style army in one of the world's poorest countries is itself an outstanding problem.
A U.S. military adviser told Reuters that the Afghan army carries combat functions on the one hand and is a source of salaries for its members on the other. In addition to this, the logistical capacity of the Afghan Government forces is poor.
Former U.S. diplomat Richard Armitage was involved in the Vietnam War. According to Reuters, Armitage said: "I can assure you that the Afghan army has fought and can fight." If it had a trigger and something could shoot out of the barrel, they could use it. The question is, is this government worth fighting for? "
Editor-in-Charge: Xu Zhenhua
Proofreader: Ding Xiao