WASHINGTON: Built and trained at a two-decade cost of $83 billion, Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely in some cases without a shot fired that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turned out to be the Taliban.

They grabbed not only political power but also US-supplied firepower guns, ammunition, helicopters and more.

The Taliban captured an array of modern military equipment when they overran Afghan forces who failed to defend district centres. 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, over the weekend.

A defense official confirmed the Taliban’s sudden accumulation of US-supplied Afghan equipment is enormous.

The reversal is an embarrassing 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 reasons for their collapse, will be studied for years by military analysts. The basic dimensions, however, are clear and are not unlike what happened in Iraq.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2021