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The Afghan Armed Forces are the military forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. They consist of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Air Force. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan has no navy. The President of Afghanistan is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, acting through the Ministry of Defense. The National Military Command Center in Kabul serves as the headquarters of the Afghan armed forces. The military of Afghanistan currently has around 200,000 active soldiers,〔 which are expected to reach 260,000 in the coming years.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Washington Examiner Search )〕 The current Afghan military originates in 1709 when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the Durrani Empire. The Afghan armed forces fought many wars with the Safavid dynasty and Maratha Empire from the 18th to the 19th century. It was re-organized by the British in 1880, when the country was ruled by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. It was modernized during King Amanullah Khan's rule in the early 20th century, and upgraded during King Zahir Shah's forty-year rule. From 1978 to 1992, the Soviet-backed Afghan army fought with multi-national mujahideen groups who were being funded by the United States and Saudi Arabia while trained by the Pakistani Armed Forces. After President Najibullah's resignation in 1992 and the end of Soviet support, the military dissolved into portions controlled by different warlord factions and the mujahideen took control over the government. This era was followed by the rise of the Pakistan-backed Taliban regime, who established a military force on the basis of Islamic sharia law. After the removal of the Taliban and the formation of the Karzai administration in late 2001, the military of Afghanistan was gradually rebuilt by NATO, mainly by the United States Armed Forces. Despite early problems with recruitment and training, it is becoming effective in fighting against the Taliban insurgency. As of 2014, it is becoming able to operate independently from the US-led International Security Assistance Force. As a major non-NATO ally, Afghanistan continues to receive billions of dollars in military assistance from NATO, mainly from the United States. ==History== Afghans have served in the militaries of the Ghaznavids (963–1187), Ghurids (1148–1215), Delhi Sultanate (1206–1527), Mughals (1526–1858) and the Persian army. The current Afghan military traces its origin to the early 18th century when the Hotaki dynasty rose to power in Kandahar and defeated the Persian Safavid Empire at the Battle of Gulnabad in 1722. When Ahmad Shah Durrani formed the Durrani Empire in 1747, his Afghan army fought a number of wars in the Punjab region of Hindustan during the 18th to the 19th century. One of the famous battles was the 1761 Battle of Panipat in which the Afghans invaded and decisively defeated the Hindu Maratha Empire. The Afghans then engaged in wars with the Punjabi Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh, which included the Battle of Jamrud in which Hari Singh Nalwa was killed by Prince Akbar Khan. During the First Anglo-Afghan War, British India invaded Afghanistan in 1838 but withdraw in 1842. During the three years a number of battles took place in different parts of Afghanistan. The first organized army of Afghanistan (in the modern sense) was established after the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1880 when the nation was ruled by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan. Traditionally, Afghan governments relied on three military institutions: the regular army, tribal levies, and community militias. The regular army was sustained by the state and commanded by government leaders. The tribal or regional levies - irregular forces - had part-time soldiers provided by tribal or regional chieftains. The chiefs received tax breaks, land ownership, cash payments, or other privileges in return. The community militia included all available able-bodied members of the community, mobilized to fight, probably only in exceptional circumstances, for common causes under community leaders. Combining these three institutions created a formidable force whose components supplemented each other's strengths and minimized their weaknesses.〔 After the Third Anglo-Afghan War ended, the reforming King Amanullah did not see the need for a large army, instead deciding to rely on Afghanistan's historical martial qualities. This resulted in neglect, cutbacks, recruitment problems, and finally an army unable to quell the 1929 up-rising that cost him his throne.〔Ali Ahmad Jalali, (Rebuilding Afghanistan's National Army ), Parameters, Autumn 2002, pp.72-86〕 However, under his reign, the small Afghan Air Force was formed in 1924. The Afghan armed forces were expanded during King Zahir Shah's reign, reaching a strength of 70,000 in 1933. Following World War II, Afghanistan briefly received continued military support from the British government under the Lancaster Plan from 1945–1947, until the partition of India realigned British priorities in the region. Afghanistan refused to join the 1955 United States-sponsored Baghdad Pact; this rebuff did not stop the United States from continuing its low-level aid program, but it was reluctant to provide Afghanistan with military assistance, so Daoud turned to the Soviet Union and its allies for military aid, and in 1955 he received approximately US$25 million of military matériel. In addition, the Soviet bloc also began construction of military airfields in Bagram, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Shindand.〔Library of Congress Country Studies〕 By the 1960s, Soviet assistance started to improve the structure, armament, training, and command and control arrangements for the military. The military reached a strength of 98,000 (90,000 army and 8,000 air force) by this period.〔Ali Ahmad Jalali, (Rebuilding Afghanistan's National Army ), Parameters, Autumn 2002, pp.72-86.〕 After the exile of King Zahir Shah in 1973, President Daud Khan forged stronger ties with the Soviets by signing two highly controversial military aid packages for his nation in 1973 and 1975. For three years, Afghan armed forces and police officers received advanced Soviet weapons, as well as training by the KGB and Soviet commandos. Due to problems with local political parties in his country, President Daud Khan decided to distance himself from the Soviets in 1976. He made Afghanistan's ties closer to the Greater Middle East and the United States instead. From 1977 to 1978, the Afghan armed forces conducted joint military training with the Military of Egypt. In April 1978 there was a coup, known as the Saur Revolution, orchestrated by members of the government loyal to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). This led to a full-scale Soviet invasion in December 1979, led by the 40th Army and the Airborne Forces. In 1981 the total strength of the army was around 85,000 troops according to The New York Times. The army had around 35-40,000 soldiers, who was mostly conscripts, the air force had around 7,000 soldiers and if put together all military personnel in 1984, the total strength of the Afghan military was around 87,000 in 1984. Throughout the 1980s, the Afghan military was heavily involved in fighting against the multi-national Mujahiddin rebel groups who were largely funded by the United States and trained by the Pakistani Armed Forces. The rebel groups were fighting to force the Soviet Union to withdraw from Afghanistan as well as to remove the Soviet-backed government of President Mohammad Najibullah. Due to large number of defectors, the Afghan armed forces in 1985 was reduced to around 47,000.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=National Security )〕 The air force had over 150 combat aircraft with about 7,000 officers who were watched over by an estimated 5,000 Cuban and Czechoslovak advisers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Country Profile )〕 Weapons supplies were made available to the Mujahideen through numerous countries; the United States purchased all of Israel's captured Soviet weapons clandestinely, and then funnelled the weapons to the Mujahideen, while Egypt upgraded their own army's weapons, and sent the older weapons to the militants, Turkey sold their World War II stockpiles to the warlords, and the British and Swiss provided Blowpipe missiles and Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns respectively, after they were found to be poor models for their own forces.〔Kinsella, Warren. "Unholy Alliances", Lester Publishing, 1992〕 China provided the most relevant weapons, likely due to their own experience with guerrilla warfare, and kept meticulous record of all the shipments.〔 Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan continued to deal with attacks from the Mujahiddin. For several years the Afghan army had actually increased their effectiveness past levels ever achieved during the Soviet military presence. But the government was dealt a major blow when Abdul Rashid Dostum, a leading general, switched allegiances to the Mujahideen in 1992 and together they captured the city of Kabul. By 1992 the national army fragmented into regional militias under local warlords because of the fall of the Soviet Union which stopped supplying the army and later in 1992 when the Afghan government lost power and the country went into a state of anarchy. After the fall of Najibullah's regime in 1992, private militias were formed and the nation began to witness a civil war between the various warlords, including Ahmad Shah Massoud, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Abdul Rashid Dostum, Abdul Ali Mazari, Ismail Khan, and many others. They received logistics support from foreign powers including Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran, China, France, Canada and the United States. When the Taliban took power in 1996, all the warlords fled Kabul to the north or neighboring countries. With the backing and support of the Pakistani Armed Force, the Taliban began creating a new military force purely based on Islam's Sharia law. The Taliban maintained a military during their period of control. The Taliban Army possessed over 400 T-54/55 and T-62 tanks and more than 200 Armoured personal carriers.〔The Guardian, (Taliban lose grip on Mazar i Sharif ), November 7, 2001〕 The Afghan Air Force under the Taliban maintained five supersonic MIG-21MFs and 10 Sukhoi-22 fighter-bombers.〔York, Geoffrey. Globe and Mail, "Military Targets Are Elusive. Afghanistan Army Called a Haphazard Operation", September 19, 2001〕 In 1995, during the 1995 Airstan incident, a Taliban fighter plane captured a Russian transport. They also held six Mil Mi-8 helicopters, five Mi-35s, five L-39Cs, six An-12s, 25 An-26s, a dozen An-24/32s, an IL-18, and a Yakovlev.〔Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment, 2001〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Afghan Armed Forces」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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