Afghan forces casualties increase as NATO forces pull back

Guardian:
The Taliban have killed 1,100 members of the Afghan security forces in the past six months as Nato troops have stepped back and left the local army and police to fight the insurgency, it has emerged.

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, admitted there had been a doubling of casualties among Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) over the past year, as well as spikes in desertion rates from the army.

The previously classified figures were given to the Ministry of Defence by commanders at Nato's International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) to help Hammond and Lieutenant General Richard Barrons prepare for questions from MPs.

Asked about Afghan casualties, Hammond said the evidence pointed to a sharp increase.

"We have to enter caveats about the quality of data and baseline data, but as the Afghans have taken over the leading role in security, clearly their casualties have gone up very significantly. Possibly they have doubled over the last year or so."

Barrons said the ANSF had suffered badly from attacks by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the past six months. Without the same medical and logistical support of western forces, the Afghans had been hit hard, he said.
... 
The Afghans don't have the airlift capacity to fly above the IED laden roads.  To supply the troops they are having to rely on road transportation which adds to their vulnerability.   I suspect they will be fortunate to survive a matter of months after NATO pulls out.

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