This year with the United States pulling out its troops from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year long war, the war-torn country fell in the hands of the Taliban in no time. With nearly 80,000 troops the Taliban managed to defeat over 3,00,000 serving Afghan forces in a matter of weeks. The world witnessed Afghan military commanders surrender without a fight.
So was it that the government troops were outmaneuvered by a more adaptive military organisation? But wait, there is a botch up in the numbers. Afghanistan’s former finance minister Khalid Payenda has claimed that the Taliban easily conquered the country because corrupt officials invented ‘ghost soldiers’ and took payment from the Islamist group.
If Khalid Payenda is to be believed then most of the 300,000-strong army and police officers did not exist in the first place. He alleges that Afghan Army generals added the phantom personnel to official lists so they could take their wages. He also alleged that some leaders took payments from the Taliban while on a government wage.
Khalid Payenda resigned as Finance Minister and left Afghanistan soon after the Taliban made large gains in the country.
This year in August the US-backed Afghanistan government fell as the Taliban rapidly took control of the whole country soon after the US and coalition forces withdrew from there. What is even more startling is that Khalid Payenda claims the inflated soldier numbers included ‘desertions’ and ‘martyrs’. He adds that the commanders often kept their bank cards and withdrew money without their consent or even when they had died.
While speaking to international media Khalid Payenda says that the troop numbers may have been inflated by as much as six times and in no way can it be said that Afghan security forces outnumbered the Taliban during the takeover by the extremist group.
