Afghan soldiers properly trained by the US show up to have joined the Taliban 2. — offering the militants skills alongside with the massive armory of US weapons of war they experienced already seized, according to a report.
British officers have analyzed photographs of the Taliban troops in action and think they have shown apparent coaching by NATO nations, especially the Uk and US, sources advised the Periods of London.
Some of the competencies permit analysts “know it is our guys” who have switched sides to assist the new regime — whose leadership contains specified terrorists wanted by the FBI and feared to be holding American hostages.
A person giveaway was observing Taliban troops working with a “straight finger” about the induce guard of their weapons, somewhat than the classic way customers of the group hold their AK47s “randomly,” one particular resource informed the United kingdom Situations.
“The new Taliban 2. … is applying the finger discipline,” a former Uk armed forces member informed the paper.
“An untrained force would normally keep the weapon randomly, but if your hand is powering the pistol grip and your finger is in excess of the bring about guard, then you are not going to have a negligent discharge and no 1 else is likely to fireplace it possibly,” the resources reported of Western forces’ basic safety teaching.
It could also reveal why “they’re not killing masses of people” in Panjshir, the very last holdout that the Taliban claimed victory over on Monday.
“They are not the exact hillbillies from the 1990s,” the Uk Times’ resource reported of the cellphone-carrying troops compared to these from the brutal routine overthrown in 2001.
The Taliban have frequently asked for that Afghan soldiers sign up for its forces to variety a new official army, also pleading for pilots to sign up for to aid fly the Black Hawk helicopters that are component of the big armory seized considering the fact that its takeover and the final exit of US troops.
The Times’ resources explained it would not be surprising for soldiers to swap to prevent staying imprisoned or killed by the brutal regime.
“Everyone just flips sides. You flip sides so you know you will not get performed in,” the paper’s resource explained.
Barbara Kelemen, an intelligence analyst at Dragonfly, a specialist protection intelligence firm, told the paper there was “reasonable probability” that some Afghan troopers had joined the Taliban.
Most likely causes would be “previous ties to the group, financial incentives and even personalized or familial protection if they perceived defeat for federal government forces was very likely,” she said.
Having said that, a spokesman for the UK’s Ministry of Defence advised the Periods, “We have no proof to aid studies that Western-qualified previous Afghan Safety Forces have joined the Taliban.”