At least 110,000 men have already been recruited into the army formed by the radical Taliban movement (banned in the Russian Federation) which seized power in Afghanistan, Mohammad Yaqoob, the appointed head of the defense ministry in the Taliban's interim cabinet, said on Wednesday.
"At the moment, the new Afghan national army has already recruited 110,000 soldiers," Bakhtar Agency quoted Yaqoob as saying.
According to him, the Taliban continue their "efforts to form an organized and cohesive army to strengthen the defense and security of the country."
On February 14 in an interview with Bakhtar, Enayatullah Khwarizmi, the Taliban appointed spokesman for the defense ministry, announced the intention to form a new army of 150,000 troops. According to him, the defense ministry plans to mobilize troops with combat experience, including those who served under the former regime. Khwarizmi pointed out that since September last year, when the Taliban created the Tasfiyah al-Saf (Cleaning Up the Ranks) Commission to control the moral fiber of the Taliban fighters, over 4,000 people have been expelled from the Taliban ranks. On February 22, Latifullah Hakimi, head of the commission, said that the new army would use weapons and military equipment left by US troops in Afghanistan.
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Based on materials from TASS