‘Disloyalty' by Biden led to army collapse, says Afghan general

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 26

The general heading the Afghan Special Forces command when Kabul fell on August 15 has blamed US President Joe Biden for the sudden folding up of the Afghan Army.

Gen Syed Sami Sadat, a three-star general, surfaced in the columns of an American newspaper after 13 days of absence from the social media where, as the Commanding General, 215 Maiwand Afghan Army Corps, he had posted regular updates about battles with the Taliban.

For the past tree and a half months, he fought “non-stop” in Helmand Province against an escalating and bloody Taliban offensive. “We held them back and inflicted heavy losses” and then I was called to Kabul to head the Special Forces. “But the Taliban were already entering the city and it was too late,” he wrote while describing his state as exhausted, frustrated and angry.

Accepting the criticism that the Afghan army lost its will to fight, Gen Sami says this was mainly because of a growing sense of abandonment by the US and the “disrespect and disloyalty” reflected in Biden’s tone over the past few months.

The Afghan Army was not blameless. It was beset by cronyism and bureaucracy. “But we ultimately stopped fighting because our partners already had.”

The general does not agree with the criticism of the Afghan Army by Biden and his Western allies. The Trump-Taliban agreement created a situation where the Taliban was emboldened. Then the recent political divisions between Washington and Kabul “strangled” the army, said Gen Sami, without elaborating.

Just before he went off the Internet, Gen Sami in a voice message on August 12 had said the “Pakistani mercenary militia” had been defeated in Helmand and that clearing operations were being carried out. Helmand's capital, Lashkargah, fell the next day.

However, some questions remain on his claims of pushing back the Taliban on August 12 when the group had already captured nine out of 10 districts of Helmand eight days earlier and the province was considered as good as gone. Also, the General does not explain how his Corps collapsed within a day of claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the Taliban, as also killing a couple of Al Qaida fighters.

As per the general's account, his forces had beaten back the Taliban. Independent accounts also confirm the Afghan forces had a good fight but only at Lashkargah city while nearly the entire rural belt of Helmand Province had come under Taliban control including the vital border crossing of Spin Boldok.

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