Afghanistan: Army
(asked on 18th August 2021) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he made of the size of the NATO-trained Afghanistan National Army prior to 16 August 2021.
This question was answered on 6th September 2021
The Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) had an authorised strength of 352,000 personnel prior to 16 August 2021. Actual numbers of personnel within ANDSF prior to the Taleban offensive into provincial capitals are estimated to be considerably below this number. The Defence assessment of the operational strength of ANDSF at that time is 60-70% of the authorised numbers: approximately 230,000.