The retirement of 162 generals of Defense Ministry has sparked strong reactions of former government officials.
On Monday, President Ashraf Ghani said that he has approved the retirement of these general for the sake of bringing reforms.
“We don’t want reforms just for the sake of reforms. This process will continue for our brighter future,” he tweeted on Twitter.
However, former governor of Balkh province, Atta Mohammad Noor who was ousted by the president about two months ago, said that the government wants to replace “loyal” generals with “traitors”.
Criticizing the move, some former military officials said that the government is taking most of the decision based on U.S. considerations.
“Americans don’t want the jihadi and cadre generals who also served in former regimes to be in the current Afghanistan’s military,” said Najib Kohistani, a military expert and retired official.
Meanwhile, Najibullah Najib, a former military pilot asserted that the [U.S.] wants to build an army in Afghanistan who can preserve its interest.
“Since last 16 years, [the U.S.] has not supported the Afghanistan army in terms of military equipment; they just waited for this filtration so they could ensure [the army] is obedient for them,” he said.
The Defense Ministry, however, said among the 162 retired general most of them were being “reserved”.
“Most of these generals were reserved and had no job, some of them were totally out of the army and some more had jobs but their posts were expired,” the ministry Spokesman Dawlat Waziri said.
This comes as President Ghani on Tuesday sacked seven high-ranking military officers including two generals over negligence, following the Daesh-claimed attack on the first Battalion of ANA 111th Capital Division.
Source Ariana News
