Afghan Armed Forces

The Afghan Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Pashto: د افغانستان اسلامي امارت وسله وال ځواکونه, Dari: قوای مسلح امارت اسلامی افغانستان) and also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Armed Forces, is the military of Afghanistan, commanded by the Taliban government from 1997 to 2001 and again since 15 August 2021. The Taliban created the first iteration of the Emirate's armed forces in 1997 after taking over Afghanistan following the end of the Afghan Civil War which raged between 1992 and 1996. However, the first iteration of the armed forces was dissolved in 2001 after the downfall of the first Taliban government following the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was officially reestablished on 8 November 2021 after the Taliban's victory in the War in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 following the recapture of Kabul and the collapse of the U.S.-backed Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its Afghan National Army as a whole, with the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan after being out of power for 20 years. Reporting from 2022–23 placed armed forces and associated groups' personnel totals at 165,000–170,000. Calculations in 2025-26, published in the IISS Military Balance 2026 (published February 2026) reassessed that figure as 150,000. Peer-reviewed publications have emphasized how Taliban forces have historically been loose and patrimonial, rather than organised and bureaucratic.