The Afghanistan National Army will collapse within six months without support from the United States of America, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said in an interview with a television show.
“Because we don’t have the money,” Ghani said in an interview to CBS 60 Minutes that was broadcast earlier this week.
Acknowledging his government’s dependence on the US, Ghani said the Afghan government would also collapse, as the US is responsible for around 90 per cent of Afghanistan’s defence budget.
In a report titled “Kabul under siege while America’s longest war rages on”, CBS pointed out 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 CBS interview, President Ghani acknowledged the presence of 21 international terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and said there were factories producing suicide bombers.
“We are under siege,” he said. “By terrorising the people, the Taliban have sown deep doubts about the government.”
It is no secret that US President Donald Trump considers the war on Taliban a costly affair.
"Let’s get out of Afghanistan. Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there. Nonsense! Rebuild the USA," he tweeted back in 2013.
In the past 16 years, the US and its allies have not been able to make significant progress, but General John Nicholson, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, believes the situation could take a turn for the better if Pakistan cooperates.
Pakistan has, for long, been accused of supporting the Taliban and other terrorist organisations in Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, US ambassador Nikki Haley, returning from a UN Security Council visit to Afghanistan, revealed that the Afghan government wanted world powers to step up pressure on Pakistan.
The Afghan government is working towards bringing stability and is making great progress, she said. They “continue to make ten steps forward and with Pakistan they feel like they continue to take steps backwards.”
“As long as they are supporting terrorism in Pakistan, the Afghan community is continuing to feel it is not safe,” she said.
