ABSTRACT
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies projections, as many as 262,000 Afghans served with the government (whether as part of the Soviet-backed army or in local militias) (IISS, 1988). Mujahideen forces totalled some 339,000 at the peak of the conflict in 1991 (IISS, 1992). Around 50,000 combatants were believed to belong to the Taliban (IISS, 2001). In 2005, the 60,000-strong Afghan Military Forces were disbanded, and the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme was initiated. Currently, the Afghan New Beginnings Project’s ‘warlord’ database for the DIAG process includes 1,800 commanders and militias for as many as 120,000 combatants, dividing these between ‘benign’ self-defence militias and approximately 100 ‘dangerous groups’ (Barron, 2005; GoA, 2006).
