Daily Times

On January 9, 2016, Afghan parliament summoned key security officials to explain the growing threat of Taliban and Islamic State (IS) as the Afghan National Army (ANA) failed to professionalise counterinsurgency operations across the country. Defence Minister Muhammad Masoom Stanekzai, Interior Minister Noorulhaq Uloomi and Director General NDS Major Masood Andrabi failed to positively respond to the questions of parliamentarians about the capability of the Afghan security forces. According to the recent report of NATO headquarters, the security situation in Afghanistan is poised to deteriorate in 2016 as the ANA has lost a third of its troops. Despite multibillion-dollar funds, the ANA remains an entity hardly capable of carrying out the functions of a military force, the report noted. The report further noted that out of 101 units only one is battle-ready while 38 units are incompetent. The report added that more than 8,000 ANA soldiers had been killed in the fight against the Taliban last year.

In fact, the Obama administration has failed to create a fundamentally workable set of transition policies and train a professional army for Afghanistan. Moreover, political horse-trading over the appointment of high-ranking police officers and the ANA commanders prompted deep crisis for the Afghan security forces fighting IS and the Taliban in Helmand and parts of the northern provinces. The ‘two presidents’ divided the security forces on ethnic and political bases and appointed their own men in the provinces under their control respectively. No doubt, a controversial election process shaped a political patronage system but blind allegiance and obedience of the police and ANA officers to their masters are logical consequences of war criminals consolidating their own power within the unity government.

The two presidents maintain their own agendas and introduced the patronage system in security sectors. All military commanders are answerable to their political masters and war criminals with conflicting priorities rather than to the state and government. On December 29, Afghan police commanders loyal to a specific political group refused to fight against the Taliban in Helmand. At the end of 2014, more than 100 Afghan police officers joined the Taliban. In December 2015, in the fight against the Taliban and IS, the ANA carried out 377 military and 110 surveillance operations, and more than 200 military operations were carried out in Helmand, Ghazni, Faryab, Kunduz and Jalalabad provinces, but the results were very poor. Militants became stronger and gained control over more districts across the country. In Jalalabad, Paktika, Faryab, Helmand, Ghazni, Kunduz, Aruzgan and Sari-pul provinces, more than 370 terror-related incidents occurred, in which 2,000 innocent civilians, 1,600 Taliban militants and 2,010 ANA soldiers were killed and injured.

The attack on the Indian consulate in Balkh province remains a question mark as the RAMA and National Directorate of Security (NDS) could not find any clue of the involvement of foreign intelligence in it. However, the Taliban and IS beheaded and kidnapped over 50 soldiers in Badakhshan province when their request for logistical support was turned down by the Afghan defence ministry. However, in Wardak province, more than 30 ANA soldiers deserted, in Kandahar, Paktia, Laghman, Kunduz and Kunar provinces, countless marooned soldiers joined the Taliban ranks. The government has lost control over the Jalalabad, Nuristan and Kunar provinces. In fact, the ANA has lost civilian support and is failing to attract young people for recruitment. A majority of jobless people have joined IS and the Taliban to support their families while Afghan ministers, members of parliament, army generals and corrupt officials continue to purchase expensive houses in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Germany and Dubai.

On December 2, 2015, the deputy speaker of the Afghan lower house of parliament accused the unity government and its National Security Council of supporting IS, and warned that if he presented the documents to parliament, the government would collapse. He showed a CD on the floor of parliament and said that some pressures had prevented him from airing the contents of the CD, but that he would show the CD to certain people at a certain time because he did not want the division of the Afghan nation. War criminal Zair Qadeer said terrorists needed to face the wrath of his lashkar, adding that the government in Kabul did not help the incarcerated men and women in the private prisons of IS. Mr Qadeer’s bray came after the uprising civilians under his command beheaded four members of IS for revenge; IS had earlier cut off the heads of four civilians in Achin district of Jalalabad province. Later on, the governor of Jalalabad confirmed that the beheaded four IS fighters belonged to Tirah Valley and two others were from the Orakzai Agency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

The Taliban and IS conducted multiple attacks inside Kabul including the attack on the National Assembly and airport, police academy and Kandahar airport, and killed hundreds of ANA soldiers and officers, but the unity government did not dare to condemn these attacks. Last week, Dr Abdullah was on an official visit to Iran. Mr Abdullah warned that IS posed a threat not only to Afghanistan but also to Iran and the entire region. In an interview with Press TV, he said that IS had good financial resources in his country. However, despite all the progress made during the 14 years of the war on terror, the country was still in turmoil. The state is weak, corrupt and fragile, facing huge political, economic and security challenges. The country is being run by financial and political mafia groups that maintain criminal trade and economy, create problems for neighbours, train terrorists and promote the business of killings and kidnapping for ransom. According to NDS reports, some members of parliament are deeply involved in kidnapping for ransom and terror-related activities. They purvey weapons to terrorists in their private vehicles in night. Unfortunately, the country is now caught up in a much broader series of crises and the Afghan security forces are shrinking by the day. There is widespread concern over the incompetence of the ANA generals to manage counterinsurgency operations and respond to the Taliban and IS attacks against civilians.

The writer is author of The Prospect of Nuclear Jihad in Pakistan and can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com