Military of Afghanistan The military of Afghanistan is composed of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Air Force ( formerly the " Afghan National Army Air Corps " ) . 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 that is headed by General Abdul Rahim Wardak . The National Military Command Center in Kabul serves as the headquarters of the Afghan armed forces . The military of Afghanistan currently has around 180 , 000 active soldiers . , with plans to reach 260 , 000 by 2015 . The Afghan military was first formed in 1709 when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the Durrani Empire . The Afghan armed forces fought many wars with Persia and India from the 18th to the 19th century . The military of the country 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 , who established a military force on the basis of Islamic sharia law . Following the US - led invasion and the removal of the Taliban government in late 2001 , the military of Afghanistan is being rebuilt and reformed by NATO military alliance , 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 2011 , it is slowly becoming able to operate independently from US - led NATO forces . The administration of U . S . President Barack Obama announced in 2009 that it would increase the number of Afghan troops and police to 400 , 000 active units . It also announced plans to spend $ 1 . 3 billion on building several military bases for the Afghan army . This includes an upgrade of more than $ 100 million to Bagram Air Base , the largest military base in the country , as well as a new $ 70 million base in Farah near the border with Iran . In the meantime , the Afghan military began seeking latest fighter aircraft and other advanced weapons . " History . When the Durrani Afghan Empire was created by Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 , his military was involved in several wars with Hindustan and Persia during the 18th to the 19th century . One of the famous battles was the Battle of Panipat during 1761 , in which the Afghans invaded and decisively defeated the Hindu Maratha Empire . Later , Afghans were involved in wars with the Sikh principalities , and the Sikh Empire especially when it was under Maharaja Ranjit Singh . During the First Anglo - Afghan War , British India ] ] invaded Afghanistan in 1838 and fought until the British were forced to withdraw in 1842 . [ [ File : King Habibullah Khan with Afghan military men . jpg | thumb | left | [ [ King of Afghanistan | King [ [ Habibullah Khan ] ] with the military men of Afghanistan in early 1900s . ] ] 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 others strengths and minimized their weaknesses . [ [ File : 1950s Afghanistan - Afghan Army soldiers on parade . jpg | thumb | upright | [ [ Afghan National Army | Afghan army soldiers ] ] in the 1950s . ] ] [ [ File : MiG - 15s and Il - 28s at Kabul 1959 . jpg | thumb | upright | [ [ Mikoyan - Gurevich MiG - 15 | MiG - 15 ] ] fighters and [ [ Ilyushin Il - 28 | Il - 28 ] ] bombers of the [ [ Afghan National Army Air Force | Afghan Air Force ] ] in 1959 . ] ] After the war ended , the reforming monarch 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 . However , under his reign , the small [ [ Afghan Air Force ] ] was formed in 1924 . The military of Afghanistan was reconstructed and improved during King [ [ Mohammed Zahir Shah | Zahir Shah ] ] ' s reign , which reached a strength of 70 , 000 in 1933 . Following the Second World War , the Soviet Union offered assistance to the Afghan government where the United States did not , and 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 . After the exile of King Zahir Shah in 1973 , President [ [ Mohammed Daoud Khan | 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 broader Middle East and the United States instead . From 1977 to 1978 the Afghan armed forces conduced joint military training with the [ [ Military of Egypt ] ] . In April 1978 there was a coup , known as the [ [ Saur Revolution ] ] , orchestrated by the Soviets and members of the government loyal to the [ [ People ' s Democratic Party of Afghanistan | People ' s Democratic Party of Afghanistan ( PDPA ) ] ] . This led to a full - scale Soviet invasion , led by the [ [ 40th Army ( Soviet Union ) | 40th Army ] ] and the [ [ Russian Airborne Troops | Airborne Forces ] ] in December 1979 . Throughout the 1980s , the military of Afghanistan was heavily involved in fighting against the [ [ mujaheddin ] ] 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 ] ] . The armed forces ' total strength in 1985 according to the Afghan government was around 47 , 000 , but it was believed to be lower by other sources . In 1981 the total strength of the army was around 85 , 000 troops according to The New York Times . The [ [ Afghan National Army | army ] ] had around 35 - 40 , 000 soldiers , who was mostly conscripts , the [ [ Afghan National Army Air Corps | 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 thousand in 1984 . [ [ File : Evstafiev - afghan - apc - passes - russian . jpg | thumb | upright | Soviet - backed Afghan troops in 1988 . ] ] Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 the [ [ Democratic Republic of Afghanistan ] ] continued to deal with attacks from the [ [ Mujaheddin ] ] . For several years the [ [ Afghan National Army | government 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 ] ] . When the [ [ Taliban ] ] took power in 1996 , they had no need for the Afghan Military because they had their own armed force . After the removal of the Taliban in late 2001 by the American led NATO operation , the new Afghan National Army was re - established . After the fall of Najibullah ' s regime in 1992 , private militias were formed amongst the mujahideen rebel groups which also included former army and air force personnel . They received logistics support from foreign powers including [ [ Russia ] ] , Pakistan , Iran , [ [ People ' s Republic of China ] ] , Canada , France and the [ [ United States ] ] . Current organization . The Afghan Air Force was very significant before and during the Soviet intervention , but by the time of the [ [ War in Afghanistan ( 2001 – present ) | U . S . invasion of Afghanistan ] ] , the number of aircraft available was minimal . The United States and its allies quickly eliminated any remaining strength or ability of the Taliban to operate aircraft . With the occupation of airbases by American forces it became clear how destitute the air force had been since the withdrawal of the Soviet Union . Most aircraft were only remnants rusting away for a decade or more . Many others were relocated to neighboring countries for storage purposes . The National Air Corps was reduced to a very small force while the country was torn by civil war . It is currently being rebuilt and modernized by the US - led multinational Combined Air Power Transition Force of the US - led international [ [ Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan | Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan ( CSTC - A ) ] ] . After the removal of the [ [ Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan | Taliban government ] ] and its replacement by the [ [ Presidency of Hamid Karzai | current government ] ] of [ [ Hamid Karzai ] ] , there has been significant progress toward revitalization of the national military , with two official branches established . The [ [ Afghan National Army ] ] and Afghan Air Force are under control of the [ [ Ministry of Defense ( Afghanistan ) | Afghan Ministry of Defense ] ] in Kabul , which forms the basic military force . [ [ File : Caldwell with cadets of class 1388 at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan . jpg | left | thumb | 300px | [ [ Lieutenant general ( United States ) | Lieutenant General ] ] of the [ [ United States Army ] ] , [ [ William B . Caldwell | William Caldwell ] ] , with cadets of class 1388 at the [ [ National Military Academy of Afghanistan ] ] ( NMAA ) ] ] [ [ File : 2011 Afghan Independence Day - 4 . jpg | thumb | [ [ Honor guard ] ] of the Afghan National Army during the 2011 commemoration of [ [ Afghan Independence Day ] ] . ] ] By July 2005 , more than 60 , 000 former militiamen from around the country have been disarmed . References and external Links . [ [ Category : Military of Afghanistan | Military of Afghanistan ] ] [ [ Category : Military of Afghanistan | Military of Afghanistan ] ]