Despite its significant manpower on paper, in reality a significant portion of the Afghan National Army manpower were made up of ghost soldiers. In 2019, the ANA had approximately 180,000 soldiers out of an authorized strength of 195,000. The majority of training of the ANA was undertaken in the Kabul Military Training Centre. However over the next few years the government slowly lost territory to the Taliban and eventually collapsed, with Kabul falling to the Taliban in 2021. In 1996 the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban regime) took power, creating their own army, which lasted until United States invasion of Afghanistan in October-November 2001.īy 2016, most of Afghanistan came under government control. Īfter the resignation of President Najibullah in 1992, the army effectively dissolved.
From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the Afghan Army was equipped by the Soviet Union. Afghanistan remained neutral during the First and Second World Wars. It was reorganized in 1880 during Emir Abdur Rahman Khan's reign. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when the Hotak dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by Ahmad Shah Durrani's rise to power. The Army of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army, is the land warfare branch of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.