Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani, has said that without US support the Afghan National Army will not last more than six months and the Afghan government will collapse.
In an interview to a television show, CBS 60 Minutes, earlier this week, President Ghani acknowledged the Afghanistan government’s absolute dependence on Washington.
“We will not be able to support our army for six months without US support,” President Ghani said in the interview.
Ghani also made it clear that the prime reason for the US dependence is the lack of money his government has. “Yes. Because we don’t have the money,” he responded when a journalist on the show asked for a confirmation on his earlier statement.
With Taliban still controlling large areas of land in the Pashtun belt and the government in Kabul so far been unable to dislodge them, President Ghani’s worries don’t seem exaggerated.
The US still contributes around 90 per cent of Afghanistan’s defence budget and observers in Washington say that in 16 years the US and its allies have only made some moderwar-torns in the war torn region.
In a report titled, “Kabul under siege while America’s longest war rages on”, the US news channel noted that “in 16 years, the Afghan war has cost 2,400 American lives and $1 trillion. But with the country’s capital under siege, the end still seems far away.”
In the interview, President Ghani also stressed upon the rise of Taliban in his country. “We are under siege. By terrorising the people, the Taliban have sown deep doubts about the government,” President Ghani said.
He also acknowledged the threatening presence of 21 international terrorist groups in his country. “There are factories producing suicide bombers,” he said.
