Afghanistan: The Taliban unit can number up to several thousand men, experts say.
Paris:
The Taliban are showing off on social media their own “special forces”, terrorists in new uniforms outfitted with looted American equipment that contrasts sharply with the image of the usual Afghan insurgent.
Photos and videos of fighters in the so-called “Badri 313” unit have been posted online for propaganda purposes to highlight how the Taliban have better equipped and trained men than in the past, experts say.
The terrorists are depicted in uniforms, boots, balaclavas and body armor that resemble those worn by special forces around the world — and unlike the shalwar kameez, turban and sandals of the traditional Taliban fighter.
Rather than sling a battered Russian-designed Kalashnikov rifle over their shoulder, Badri’s men hold 313 new US-made rifles, such as the M4, sometimes with night vision goggles and advanced rifle sights.
Badri 313 “probably represents some of the best trained and equipped fighters within the Taliban overall, although, as you would expect, there has been a certain amount of sensationalism in the group’s propaganda coverage of the unit,” Matt Henman said. from the Janes defense consultancy to AFP.
A Western weapons expert writing anonymously on Twitter under the pseudonym Caliber Obscura said the unit would be no match for Western special forces, or those of India or Pakistan.
But “they are more effective than the normal Taliban and certainly more than the standard Afghan national army troops from a few weeks ago,” he told AFP.
American weapons
Named after the battle of Badr 1,400 years ago, when the prophet Mohammed supposedly defeated his enemies with just 313 soldiers, the Taliban unit could number up to several thousand men, experts say.
The amount of equipment at their disposal is unclear, but multiple photos online show cheering Taliban fighters posing with captured armored Humvees, planes and weapons left behind by the defeated US-equipped Afghan National Army.
Experts say the most advanced equipment, especially the helicopters, will be difficult to operate and nearly impossible to maintain.
“There is certainly a degree of propaganda, but we have seen in the final offensive since May that Taliban special forces have been critical of the takeover of Afghanistan,” said Bill Roggio, editor-in-chief of the US-based Long War Journal.
“As they started to overwhelm the Afghan armed forces, they gradually integrated western supplies. The US was basically arming the Taliban army,” he added.
In previous days, the unit was responsible for security outside the Kabul International Airport, putting them almost face-to-face with US forces inside overseeing the airlift of thousands of civilians.
In a social media post, Badri 313’s troops even mocked their American counterparts by mimicking the famous photo of American soldiers hanging the Stars and Stripes on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945.
The uniformed Taliban figures are seen with their black and white flag.
Haqqani roll?
Badri 313 is also said to have benefited from training from the Haqqani Network, Afghanistan’s most ruthless and feared terrorist group that has been responsible for multiple suicide attacks on civilian targets.
Based mainly in eastern Afghanistan – with alleged bases across the border in northwestern Pakistan – the group has become more visible in the Taliban leadership in recent years.
They have also long been suspected of ties to the Pakistani military establishment — US Admiral Mike Mullen described them in 2011 as a “real arm” of Islamabad’s intelligence.
Pakistan denies the allegations.
“There is a good chance that Pakistan has provided at least some trace of training to the unit,” said Henman of Janes, who specializes in terrorism and insurgency.
Gilles Dorronsoro, an expert on Afghanistan at Sorbonne University in Paris, said the rise of the new Taliban commandos is part of a larger trend.
“We have seen a remarkable professionalization of the Taliban since the mid-2000s,” he told AFP.
“The war they are waging is not the same as their parents’ war against the Soviets. They have learned from the ground and are technically very good,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
