| Military branches | prior to August 2021, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) were comprised of military, police, and other security elements: Ministry of Defense: Afghan National Army ((ANA), Afghan Air Force, Afghan Army Special Security Forces (ASSF; includes ANA Special Operations Command, General Command Police Special Units (GCPSU), and the Special Mission Wing (SMW)), Afghanistan National Army Territorial Forces (ANA-TF, lightly-armed local security forces); Afghan Border Force (ABF); Afghan National Civil Order Force (ANCOF) Ministry of Interior: Afghan Uniform (National) Police (AUP); Public Security Police (PSP); Afghan Border Police (ABP); Afghan Anti-Crime Police; Afghan Local Police; Afghan Public Protection Force; Special Security Forces National Directorate of Security ((NDS), intelligence service) (2021) |
| Military service age and obligation | not available |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.2% of GDP (2019) 1% of GDP (2018) 0.9% of GDP (2017) 1% of GDP (2016) 1% of GDP (2015) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | not available; prior to August 2021, the ANDSF had approximately 300,000 personnel (180,000 Ministry of Defense; 120,000 Ministry of Interior) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | prior to August 2021, the Afghan military inventory was mostly a mix of Soviet-era and more modern US and other foreign equipment; since 2010, the US was the leading supplier of arms to Afghanistan, followed by Russia (2021) |
| Military - note | the Afghan military focuses on internal security threats from several armed groups, particularly the Taliban and militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), al-Qa’ida, and Haqqani Network terrorist groups (see the Terrorist Organizations Appendix); the primary threat to the Afghan Government and its security forces is the Taliban, which has conducted an insurgency since the early 2000s and conducted thousands of attacks against government forces, including widespread assassinations of government employees, security officials, and society leaders; the Taliban calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; its political and military decisions are made by a leadership council (Rahbari Shura) currently led by HAIBATULLAH Akhundzada; as of mid-2020, the group had an estimated 60-80,000 full-time fighters; in addition to their strongholds in the provinces of Helmond and Kandahar, the Taliban has conducted attacks in nearly every Afghanistan province; the Taliban has close ties to al-Qaida and the Haqqani Network |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
