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| Afghanistan |
| Over 140,000 ANA Troops On Active Duty |
| 2016-08-10 |
| Quite an army... As war wages in parts of the country, including in Helmand and Nangarhar, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that over 140,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers are fighting insurgents in Afghanistan. The Defense Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told TOLOnews on Tuesday that the soldiers will suppress terrorists effectively if they are attacked. He said about three quarters of a total 195,000 soldiers were actively fighting insurgents. "With our current equipment and facilities on hand, we are able to prevent the enemy from succeeding in Afghanistan. The current troops need more attention paid to their equipment, and if this happens, we can say that the ANA personnel are enough," Waziri said. According to reports, the war is ongoing between Afghan forces and Taliban in eastern and southern parts of the country and troops are in a defensive mode in other parts – including Baghlan, Kunduz and Badakhshan provinces. Meanwhile, according to the Interior Ministry, Afghanistan has 157,000 police force members, of which 80 percent (over 125,000) are actively involved in fighting insurgents. "The ongoing war has kept police force members busy in most of the country's provinces; the war has drawn the police from their main duty (maintaining law and order)" and instead forced them to fight a war, said Najib Danish, the Interior Ministry's deputy spokesman. Meanwhile, military affairs analysts said that the war strategy has made Afghan forces tired and that their transfer between provinces provides opportunities for militants to take control of areas. "The reason behind the fall of some areas is that all forces are pulled out of (an area) and transferred to another. This is the fault of corps commanders. They should have a proper plan and should move forward based on that," military affairs commentator Gula Jan Safi said. Video report at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |