Well, reports are that the leaders of the ANA were corrupt and stealing the checks and the Taliban paid the soldiers to surrender so…
Re:Economic costs of war
by jonnycomputer on Monday August 16, 2021 @11:37PM
(#28205946)
I've read that some families would send one son to fight for the Taliban, and the other to fight for the Afghan army or police as a kind of insurance policy: "The power of kinship led to a common arrangement whereby extended families have protected themselves by sending one son to fight with the government army or police (for pay) and another son to fight with the Taliban. This has been a strategy in many civil wars, for example, among English noble families in the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. It means that at a given point, one of the sons can desert and return home without fearing persecution by the winning side."
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/08/16/afghanista...
I wonder how long they cashed their checks, knowing full well they were going to surrender immediately as soon as the US was going to pull out. Or better, despite not ever having the intention of fighting (or even agreeing with the Taliban), claiming persecution to hustle a western visa/passport when they would inevitably lose.