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<FONT
face=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica color=#333333 size=2>In 1978 the
Afghan army numbered 110,000 men, but desertions reduced it to 50,000 by 1986.
The USSR, which had already supplied the Afghan government with military
equipment and advisers, sent in combat troops in late 1979 but withdrew them
over a nine-month period in 1988 and 1989. By then the Afghan armed forces had
been rebuilt to about 200,000 men in the army, security police, and militia. At
the present time, however, the military no longer exists on a national scale.
Some elements of the former army, national guard, border guard, national police
(sarandoi), and ethnic militias still exist, but they are broken up among
the various political factions. In 1995 available manpower (men aged 15 to 49)
was estimated at about 5.6 million; those fit for military service was about 3
million; and men reaching military age (22) annually numbered about 200,000.
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