Military of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (September 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Islamic Army of Afghanistan
د افغانستان اسلامي پوځ
Arms of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Motto	(الارض لله والحكم لله) The land belongs to Allah, the rule should be of Allah
Founded	1997–2001
Current form	2021–present (as the Islamic Army of Afghanistan)
Service branches	Air Force Ground Forces
Headquarters	Kabul, Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Leadership
Emir (Amir al-Mu'minin)	Hibatullah Akhundzada
Prime Minister	Hasan Akhund
Minister of Defense	Mohammad Yaqoob
Chief of Army Staff	Qari Fasihuddin
Manpower
Military age	During 1997–2001; under 14 During 2021 offensive; unconfirmed reports of young recruits[citation needed]
Conscription	Yes (1997-2001)[1]
Reaching military age annually	200,000[citation needed] (1998)
Active personnel	400,000 (2001) 85,000–200,000 (2021)[2][3]
Reserve personnel	50,000 (2001) Unknown (2021)[citation needed]
Industry
Foreign suppliers	Pakistan (Alleged)[4]  China (Alleged)[5]  Russia (Alleged)[6]  Iran (Alleged, until 2021)[7]  Saudi Arabia (Alleged, until 2001)
Related articles
History	Military history of Afghanistan

The military of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is currently made up of the Islamic Army of Afghanistan^[8][9] (Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي پوځ‎) which is the in-turn the combined army and air forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]} It was initially created in 1997 after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan following the end of the Afghan Civil War.^{[citation needed]} The defence force was dissolved in 2001 after the Taliban were deposed from power following the United States invasion of Afghanistan.^{[citation needed]} In 2021, the Taliban retook Afghanistan after a successful offensive.

Ground Forces[]

The Taliban maintained 400 T-54/55 and T-62 tanks and more than 200 armoured personnel carriers.^[10][11] The Taliban also began training its own army and commanders. After the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001, private armies loyal to warlords gained more and more influence. In mid-2001, Ali Jalali wrote:^[12]

The army (as a state institution, organized, armed, and commanded by the state) does not exist in Afghanistan today. Neither the Taliban-led "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" nor the "Islamic State of Afghanistan" headed by the ousted President Rabbani has the political legitimacy or administrative efficiency of a state. The militia formations they command are composed of odd assortments of armed groups with varying level of loyalties, political commitment, professional skills, and organizational integrity. Many of them feel free to switch sides, shift loyalties, and join or leave the group spontaneously. The country suffers from the absence of a top political layer capable of controlling individual and group violence. ... Although both sides identify their units with military formations of the old regime, there is hardly any organizational or professional continuity from the past. But these units really exist in name only ... in fact only their military bases still exist, accommodating and supporting an assortment of militia groups.

As of August 2021, the Islamic Army of Afghanistan maintains at least two elite units under its command, the Badri 313 Battalion and the Red Unit.^[13] The army itself to date relies heavily on captured hardware from the defeated Afghan National Army. Approximately 2,000 vehicles are in the Islamic Army of Afghanistan arsenal including the Humvee, M1117 Guardian, MaxxPro MRAP and Oshkosh ATV. In terms of infantry equipment, captured items include the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, night-vision goggles, body armor suits, communication equipment and shoulder-mounted grenade launchers. These U.S made firearms are reportedly replacing Russian made AK-47's carried by most infantry members.^[14]

Air Force[]

The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban maintained five supersonic MiG-21MFs and 10 Sukhoi-22 fighter-bombers.^[15] They also held six Mil Mi-8 helicopters, five Mi-35s, five L-39Cs, six An-12s, 25 An-26s, a dozen An-24 and An-32s, an IL-18, and a Yakovlev. Their civil air service contained two Boeing 727A/Bs, a Tu-154, five An-24s, and a DHC-6.

Taliban patrolling the streets of Kabul following its fall, 2021

Taliban posing with a captured UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, 2021

The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban did not see action in the Afghan Civil War and almost all aircraft were destroyed by the US in the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021). Most of the MiG-21 fleet met their end in an Afghan junkyard. The roundel of most of the aircraft was a washed over DRAAF Roundel with the green paint of the Taliban.^[16][17]

On 3 August 1995, a incident involving Taliban’s Afghan Air Force MiG-21 aircraft forced a Russian Ilyushin 76 cargo plane carrying arms from Albania to Afghanistan to land at Kandahar.^[18][19] Negotiations between the Russian government and the Taliban to free the men stalled for over a year and efforts by American senator Hank Brown to mediate between the two parties broke down over a prisoner exchange.^[20] The Taliban stated that they would free the airmen if the Russians released Afghans held by the Russian government.^{[citation needed]} However the Russians denied holding any Afghan citizens.^{[citation needed]} Brown was able to get the Taliban to agree that the Russian crew should be allowed to maintain their aircraft.^[20] This request paved the way for their escape.^[20]

After the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul during the 2021 Taliban offensive, the Taliban has acquired UH-60 Black Hawks, Mil Mi-24s (most of them without engines), and Mil Mi-8s/Mil Mi-17s captured from the AAF.

Civil Aviation Service[]

After the end of the Soviet war in 1989 and collapse of Najibullah's government, the Taliban took over Kabul in 1996. Afghanistan faced substantial economic sanctions from the international sector during the Taliban regime. The sanctions, along with the Taliban government's control of Ariana Afghan Airlines and the grounding of many of the carrier's international flights, had a devastating effect on the economic health of the company through the 1990s. The fleet was reduced to only a handful of Russian and Ukrainian built An-26s, Yak-40s and three Boeing 727s, which were used on the longest domestic routes and military transport roles. With no overseas assets, by 1999 Ariana's international operations consisted of flights to Dubai only; also, limited cargo flights continued into China's western provinces. However, sanctions imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 forced the airline to suspend overseas operations. In November 2001 (2001-11), Ariana was grounded completely.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

With the Taliban's blessing, Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana, the national civilian airline of Afghanistan. For four years, according to former U.S. aides and exiled Afghan officials, Ariana's passenger and charter flights ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan. Members of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network were provided false Ariana identification that gave them free run of airports in the Middle East.

According to people interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Viktor Bout's companies helped in running the airline.^[21]

Conscription[]

According to the testimony of Guantanamo detainees before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service.^[22]

Conscription of children[]

According to a report from the University of Oxford, the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999. During the civil war that preceded the Taliban regime, thousands of orphaned boys joined various militia for "employment, food, shelter, protection and economic opportunity." The report said that during its initial period the Taliban "long depended upon cohorts of youth". Witnesses stated that each land-owning family had to provide one young man and $500 in expenses. In August, of that year 5000 students aged between 15 and 35 left madrassas in Pakistan to join the Taliban.^[1]

Equipment[]

Infantry weapons[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Information
Assault rifles
M4		United States	Assault rifle	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army.[23]
M16		United States	Assault rifle	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army.[23]
AK-47		Soviet Union	Assault rifle	Unknown number in service, most rifles are Khyber Pass copies of AK-47. Many variants in use, acquired through smuggling and illegal arms transfer.[24]
Zastava M70		Yugoslavia	Assault rifle	Unknown[24]
Colt Canada C7		Canada	Assault rifle	Low numbers in use.[24]
Sniper rifles
M24		United States	Sniper rifle	Unknown, Captured from former Afghan Army.[25]
Machine guns
M249 SAW		United States	Light machine gun	Unknown number in service captured from former Afghan Army[26]
M240		United States	Medium machine gun	Unknown number in service captured from former Afghan Army[26]
KPV heavy machine gun		Soviet Union	Heavy machine gun	Unknown, most are from captured equipment in Afghan Soviet war.[27]
PK machine gun		Soviet Union	Heavy machine gun	Unknown, most are from captured equipment in Afghan Soviet war.[28]
Grenade launchers
M203		United States	Grenade launcher	Unknown number in service captured from former Afghan Army[26]
Pistols
M9		United States	Pistol	Unknown number in service captured from former Afghan Army[28]
P226		Germany	Pistol	Unknown number in service. Probably a copy made in China.[29]
Grand Power X-Calibur		Slovakia	Pistol	Unknown number in service. Probably a copy made in Pakistan.[29]

Uniform[]

This section is missing information about pre-2021 use of American-styled gear in propaganda videos: captures or airsoft copies? Also, captured NVG circa 2017. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (September 2021)

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Information
Military uniform
FAST Helmet		United States	Combat helmet	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army.[30]
Spec4ce Camouflage		United States	Combat uniform	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army. Woodland, Urban, Desert and Metro patterns in use.[31]
MTV		United States	Ballistic vest	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army.[32]
Army Combat Boot		United States	Combat boot	Unknown number in service, captured from former Afghan Army.[32]
Traditional Afghan Sandal		Afghanistan	Combat boot	Unknown number in service, standard issue footwear.[32]

Armored combat vehicles[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Number
Tanks
T-54/T-55		Soviet Union	Main battle tank	Unknown[27]
T-62		Soviet Union	Main battle tank	Unknown[27]
Armoured personnel carriers
M113		United States	Armoured personnel carrier	Unknown[27]
Light armored vehicles
Humvee		United States	Light armored vehicle	Unknown[33]
International MaxxPro		United States	Light tactical vehicle	Unknown[33]
M1117		United States	Internal security vehicle	Unknown[34]

Unarmored vehicles[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Number
Trucks
Ford Ranger		United States	Pickup truck	Unknown[35]
Toyota Hilux		Japan	Pickup truck	Unknown[36]
Toyota Land Cruiser		Japan	Pickup truck	Unknown[36]
Navistar 7000 series		United States	Military truck	Unknown[27]
Ford Cargo		United States	Military truck	Unknown[27]
M915		United States	Military truck	Unknown[27]

Artillery[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Number
Mortars
M69		Yugoslavia	Mortar	Unknown[27]
Towed artillery
76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3)		Soviet Union	Field gun	Unknown[27]
122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30)		Soviet Union	Field gun	Unknown[27]
Anti-aircraft artillery
ZU-23-2		Soviet Union	Anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon	Unknown[27]

Helicopters[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Number
Military helicopters
UH-60 Black Hawk		United States	Utility helicopter	Unknown, at least 1 operational[35]
MD 500		United States	Utility helicopter	Unknown[37]
CH-46		United States	Transport helicopter	Unknown, former U.S State Department "Embassy Air" helicopters left behind following the fall of Kabul[38]
Mil Mi-17		Russia	Transport helicopter	100+, At least 1 remains operational[39]
Mil Mi-24		Russia	Attack helicopter	Unknown[39]

Aircraft[]

Name	Image	Origin	Type	Number
Military Aircraft
Cessna 208 Caravan		United States	Attack / transport aircraft	Unknown[40]
C-130 Hercules		United States	Military transport aircraft	Unknown[37]
Pilatus PC-12		Switzerland	Military transport aircraft	Unknown[40]
A-29		Brazil	Counter-insurgency aircraft	Unknown[37]
Boeing Insitu ScanEagle		United States	Unmanned aerial vehicle	Unknown[27]

References[]