Smart German Minister of Defense Ursula von der Leyen has levied harsh accusations against the Afghan military command.
Speaking before an assembly of her conservative party’s youth organization (JU) in Hamburg she said:
„When the Taliban overran Kunduz, the first, the second, and the third level of command were not present.“ In September the leadership was away celebrating the Islamic Festival of the Sacrifice or traveling abroad.
“But that won’t do. It shows the failure of the military leadership, if in a critical region like this, nobody from the senior level is there, even to tell the troops what to do”
As a consequence the radical Taliban could easily take the city.
She made clear that the defeat was not a matter of cowardice of Afghan forces. The fact that the city could be reclaimed quickly once the proper command structure had been reestablished, according to von der Leyen, showed as much.
The main reason for the Taliban success in Kunduz was just sloppiness of the Afghan National Forces, and the ignorance of its leaders on three levels. Not that the Taliban are now stronger than the government forces.