A simple translation quoted of the German TV Station ARD1 17-08-21
“22 warplanes and 24 military helicopters with 585 soldiers on board are said to have fled from Afghanistan to neighboring Uzbekistan over the weekend. Tajikistan also reported that Afghan soldiers had crossed the border by plane. The air force of the Afghan armed forces was considered powerful in the fight against the Taliban, as were the 10,000-strong special forces.
But like the rest of the Afghan armed forces, they left the land to the Taliban. They also captured extensive equipment provided by the US and its allies. The Americans alone spent more than $90 billion on Afghan security forces, according to a war-cost project at Brown University in Providence. In retrospect, there are a number of factors that made the collapse seem expected.
Leave Bagram without handover
A symbol is the abandonment of the headquarters of the US armed forces and at the same time an air hub for NATO’s “Resolute Support” mission in Afghanistan – the Bagram military base about 40 kilometers east of Kabul. On the once heavily guarded terrain the size of a small town was a runway for large military aircraft with the associated halls. There were residential complexes, workshops and a notorious prison.
At the beginning of July, the last representatives of the US armed forces switched off the power and left the site in the middle of the night – without notifying the new Afghan commander of the base. He did not notice the departure until two hours later, Afghan military officials told the AP news agency. A few days ago, Bagram fell into the hands of the Taliban.
https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/asien/afghanistan-bagram-nato-abzug-101.html
In July The Nato troups left the base in Bagram
With the military of the international mission “Resolute Support”, the civilian contractors who had maintained the helicopters and other military equipment of the Afghan armed forces on behalf of the USA also withdrew. Several military experts point to this. The supply of intelligence and US air support had also been suspended. As the Taliban also blocked the main roads as they advanced, the armed forces at their bases across the country were increasingly left without supplies.
Total refusal of the Federal Government.
There was also a lack of political support. This began with US President Donald Trump: The Doha agreement with the Taliban in February 2020 did not contain any requirement for a ceasefire with the Afghan armed forces. In return for the withdrawal of international troops, the Taliban only pledged to carry out fewer attacks.
At the weekend, President Ashraf Ghani left the country without even incising an orderly transition. His departure could hardly have happened without permission from the USA.
Taliban enhanced by talks
The Taliban, on the other hand, experienced an appreciation through negotiations. Not only in recent weeks have they held talks with representatives of the countries in the closer and wider neighbourhood, including Iran, China and Russia. As early as the end of 2015, for example, the President’s Russian Special Representative for Afghanistan, Samir Kabulov, declared that communication channels had been set up with the Taliban. At the time, he also spoke of possible arms deliveries. Now Russia is one of very few countries that wants to continue to operate its embassy in Kabul and withdraw only a small part of the staff. “
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