The head of the Afghan Parliament’s Internal Security Commission has accused the Office of National Security Council (ONSC) of “incompetence” and “interference” in the works of other security agencies. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) and the Ministry of Defense (MOD) are primary agencies to conduct the war. Khan Agha Rezaee, who is the head of Parliament’s internal security commission, claimed that officials from security institutions did not have enough authority to act.  The orders, he said, were being dictated by the ONSC, which is headed by National Security Advisor Hamidullah Mohib. 

“The interference which exists today has led to the inability of the security and defense forces, they (NSC) shouldn’t be allowed to do so, they must only give suggestions and conduct monitoring,” Rezaee was quoted as saying by TOLonews. 

And, this is not the first time when the government has been accused of micro-managing the war. The ONSC, which has no direct and first-hand experience of the ground realities, capabilities, had earlier been blamed for the quick collapse of several districts in the country’s north. 

Earlier, late in 2020, when it was clear that Americans were leaving, senior security officials both from the Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry asked the ONSC and President Ashraf Ghani to make some hard choices. They had suggested withdrawing the Afghan army and police from far-flung remote outposts and rural districts. 

The supply lines were stretched with the government having just a symbolic presence just to guard district center buildings. Assadullah Khalid, then the defense minister, who has had over two decades of experience in fighting, was one of them, reported The Guardian this month.

They believed the Afghan forces didn’t have the capacity and resources to exert control over all districts. Therefore the government should change its priorities and better guard strategic cities, major population centers, highways, and revenues sources, The Guardian reported early this month.  

What they were suggesting was basically a “tactical retreat” to better face the enemy. 

“We’re not giving up one inch of our country,” NSA Mohib was quoted by The Guardian in response to the suggestion. Almost six months later, in the months of May and June this year, the Afghan forces would suffer an ignominious loss of hundreds of districts, resulting in handing over thousands of heavy weapons to the Taliban and a plummeted morale of its soldiers. 

 The ONSC gave no explanation for the fall of districts. Experts said that the ONSC was a policy-making and consultative institution and micro-managing the war, deployment wasn't part of its job.

Afghan Parliament’s internal security commission accused Mohib of monopolizing all the responsibilities and authorities of security officials. 

“The plan that was carried out to appoint 100 district police chiefs and deploy them in the districts was not professional,” said Daud Amin, a former police commander in Khost who was recently dismissed from his job. Legal experts though suggested the ONSC has no right to appoint district police chiefs and governors. 

(SAM)