Afghan Army chief coming to India [in August] with revised wish list

[notorious_eagle]

$60 bil to raise a 3 hundred thousand ANA and half a mil police forces.

$65 Billion for training and equipping them, not their salaries. That comes out of a separate budget. That's a lot of money for a small country such as Afghanistan.

Yes they lack spare parts of some of the hardwares,even India faces similar issues which results cannibalization of fleet(Mi-26 is the greatest example).But it has nothing to do with new hardware which has its spare parts available.And perhaps for few equipments,but we're not funding these platforms totally free.Afghanistan wants to buy these hardware,which are cheap and rugged.These are basic needs for any army but will go down long way.

Maintaining them, not acquiring spare parts. Acquiring spare parts is easy, but having the necessary support staff with skilled technicians is a different ball game. Despite spending millions in trying to train these technicians, the ANA still has to hire contractors from Ukraine or Ex Soviet Republics to maintain these choppers. And believe me, India will have to fund this because Afghanistan lacks the spare cash to buy these spares.

They want a capable field howitzer,and they're asking for 105 mm LFG,they want mortars,they want 81 mm.These are very basic platforms without which they can't defeat Taliban.But Nato never provided these essential hardwares,even knowing it is essential.They never provided a MBT,which could sustain any IED attack yet perform.They provided a light recon helo for fire support.They provided aircraft fleet that bogged down due to various factors.And even in their words,they said its due to the factor that they don't want to displease an "important ally".

Fair enough and fair demands. But the notion that these field Howitzers and 105mm LFG will upset the balance against a Seasoned Professional Fighting Force such as Pakistan Army is a joke in itself.

Yes it is true that corruption is a vital factor when it comes about ANA,but still they're fighting and repelling Taliban Offensives around 2 years now.They require same level of support like Iraq.You can see the amount of hardwares Iraq is buying to re raise their armed forces.Sadly,Afghanistan is not getting same level of attention.

Without American Special Forces and US Air Power, they would have been evicted from the South long time ago. Even now, the ANA is largely confined to Fortress Urban Cities and the Taliban dominate the Rural Side. Last i checked, 80% of Afghan population still live in the Rural Side and not the Urban. All the surveys and studies conducted point out that morale among ANA is at an all time low.

But there are ray of hopes as America is not abandoning Afghanistan and instead of placing boots,they raised ANA to perform their job while they restricted their activity to training and maintaining drone fleet.It'll take several years before ANA will perform their activities independently,and it is crucial that these few years,they have to become Defensive offense mode.

That's true, the only way Afghanistan can achieve piece is by raising the ANA into a Strong Professional Fighting Unit and bringing all the different Ethnic Clans together.

Anyway,just like previous chief,he'll also ask for Howitzer,Mortars,Heavy AFVs/MBTs,multi utility helos,UAVs and such.

It will be interesting to see what Indian reaction would be