KABUL - A new report published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) based in Washington, D.C. indicates that, over the past year, some 15,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers quit their jobs. According to SIGAR, the loss of 8.5 percent of the ANA's force to attrition has left it will a smaller number of troops than it had at the start of last year.

In response to the report, the Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) published a press released Wednesday maintaining that the 15,000 figure in fact makes up just 3.5 percent of the military, and includes soldiers who were killed or injured in the line of duty.

Yet analysts, including former security officials, have suggested the main factor behind the worrying attrition trend of the ANA that SIGAR hoped to highlight could simply be poor management on the part of the MoD.

"It could be improper attitudes of the officials, or the burden of the job and too few holidays, or the rejection of demands made by the soldiers," former Deputy Minister of Interior Mirza Mohammad Yarmand told TOLOnews.

Some suggested the spike in attrition could be the result of some Taliban strategy. "It could propaganda of the enemy, in some areas enemies put pressure on families to ask their sons quite the ANA," military analyst Atiqullah Amarkhail said. Nevertheless, senior defense officials are considered most responsible. "Secondly, it is the triangle of the management," Amarkhail added.

The ANA is an all-volunteer force, and new soldiers join the ANA by signing a contract. Millions of dollars are spent annually for their training and support. In total, the United States has spent 8.34 billion USD on training and equipment for the ANA. But with report of high attrition rates, concerns about the wasting of valuable, limited resources on account of poor management have peaked.

Government officials, particularly from the MoD, have sought to quell those concerns. "Our Defense and Interior Ministries now have the best management system possible, and sometimes the traumas of war cause such issues, but God willing, everything will continue going well," said Ahmad Zia Massoud, the Presidential Advisor for Good Governance and Reform.

According to the new SIGAR report, from September 2013 to September 2014, up to 40,000 enlistees were deleted from the Ministry of Defense database. But the report did not specify under what conditions those enlistees ended their active duty. (Tolonews)