Exhausted and abandoned: why Afghanistan's army collapsed

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Taliban forces had swept across the country in just two weeks, seizing provincial capitals often without a bullet being fired.

But senior officials in the former Afghan administration told AFP that the lightning victory was not entirely unexpected, and the consequence of fundamental leadership failures, rampant corruption, slick Taliban propaganda -- and a crushing "betrayal" by US-led forces with their hasty pullout.

"Ministers were lying to Ghani, telling him that everything was fine, so they could keep their jobs and their privileges," he said."We didn't get our priorities right," he added. Senior officers creamed off what they could, stealing salaries from lower ranks, as well as selling fuel and ammunition supplies.

Without the critical protection of US air support -- and with the former government's own air force grounded after foreign contractors maintaining the fleet were pulled out by Washington -- the army lost its strategic advantage."They could sense victory... Before that deal, the Taliban had not won any significant battles against the Afghan Army. After the agreement? We were losing dozens of soldiers a day.

 

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