Taliban gets the benefit of billions spent on Afghan Army

Washington: Built and trained at a two-decade cost $83 bllion, Afghan security forced collapsed so fast and totally- in some cases without a shot fired- the Taliban turned out to be the ultimate beneficiary of the America investment. Not only political power was grabbed by them but also the US-supplied firepower guns, ammunition, helicopters and more was seized.

An array of modern military equipment, was captured by Taliban, when they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend district centers. Over the weekend, bigger gains followed, including combat aircraft, when the Taliban rolled up provincial capitals and military bases with stunning speed, topped by capturing the biggest prize, Kabul.

A US defence official confirmed on Monday that "the Taliban's sudden accumulation of US-supplied Afghan equipment is enormous. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The reversal is an embarrasing consequence of misjudging the viability of Afghan government forces-by the US military as well as intelligence agencies - which in some cases chose to surrender their vehicles and weapons rather than fight.

The US failure to produce a sustainable Afghan army and police force, and the reason for their collapse, by military analysts. The basic dimensions, however, are clear and are not unlke what happened in Iraq. The forces turned out to be hollow, equipped with superior arms but largely missing the crucial ingredient of combat motivation.

A retired Army lieutenant general, Doug Lute, who help direct Afghan war stratergy during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations said that, "what the Afghans received in tangible resources they lacked in the more important intangibles."

"The principle of war stands - moral factor dominate material factors," he added.

Morale , discipline, leadership, unit cohesion are more decisive than nimbers of forces and equipment. As outsiders in Afghanistan, we can provide the intangible moral factors."

Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, with smaller number, less sophisticated weaponry and no air power, proved a superior force US intelligence agencies largely underestimated the scope of that superiority, and even after President Joe Biden made an announcement in April that he was withdrawing all the US troops, the intelligence agencies did not foresee a Taliban final offensive that would succeed so spectacularly.