Pakistan Army (includes National Guard), Pakistan Navy (includes Marine forces, Maritime Security Agency), Pakistan Air Force (Pakistan Fizaia); Ministry of Interior paramilitary forces: Frontier Corps, Pakistan Rangers (2021)
note: the National Guard is a paramilitary force and one of the Army's reserve forces, along with the Pakistan Army Reserve, the Frontier Corps, and the Pakistan Rangers
prior to August 2021, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) were comprised of military, police, and other security elements:
Ministry of Defense: Afghan National Army ((ANA), Afghan Air Force, Afghan Army Special Security Forces (ASSF; includes ANA Special Operations Command, General Command Police Special Units (GCPSU), and the Special Mission Wing (SMW)), Afghanistan National Army Territorial Forces (ANA-TF, lightly-armed local security forces); Afghan Border Force (ABF); Afghan National Civil Order Force (ANCOF)
Ministry of Interior: Afghan Uniform (National) Police (AUP); Public Security Police (PSP); Afghan Border Police (ABP); Afghan Anti-Crime Police; Afghan Local Police; Afghan Public Protection Force; Special Security Forces
National Directorate of Security ((NDS), intelligence service) (2021)
Military service age and obligation
16-23 years of age for voluntary military service; soldiers cannot be deployed for combat until age 18; women serve in all three armed forces; reserve obligation to age 45 for enlisted men, age 50 for officers (2019)
not available
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
4% of GDP (2019)
4.1% of GDP (2018)
3.8% of GDP (2017)
3.6% of GDP (2016)
3.6% of GDP (2015)
1.2% of GDP (2019)
1% of GDP (2018)
0.9% of GDP (2017)
1% of GDP (2016)
1% of GDP (2015)
Military - note
the military has carried out three coups since Pakistan's independence in 1947 and remains the most influential political actor in the country
the Afghan military focuses on internal security threats from several armed groups, particularly the Taliban and militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham (ISIS), al-Qa'ida, and Haqqani Network terrorist groups (see the Terrorist Organizations Appendix); the primary threat to the Afghan Government and its security forces is the Taliban, which has conducted an insurgency since the early 2000s and conducted thousands of attacks against government forces, including widespread assassinations of government employees, security officials, and society leaders; the Taliban calls itself the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan; its political and military decisions are made by a leadership council (Rahbari Shura) currently led by HAIBATULLAH Akhundzada; as of mid-2020, the group had an estimated 60-80,000 full-time fighters; in addition to their strongholds in the provinces of Helmond and Kandahar, the Taliban has conducted attacks in nearly every Afghanistan province; the Taliban has close ties to al-Qaida and the Haqqani Network
Military and security service personnel strengths
information varies; approximately 640,000 active personnel (550,000 Army; 30,000 Navy; 60,000 Air Force) (2021)
not available; prior to August 2021, the ANDSF had approximately 300,000 personnel (180,000 Ministry of Defense; 120,000 Ministry of Interior)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the Pakistan military inventory includes a broad mix of equipment, primarily from China, France, Ukraine, the UK, and the US; since 2010, China and the US are the leading suppliers of arms to Pakistan; Pakistan also has a large domestic defense industry (2020)
prior to August 2021, the Afghan military inventory was mostly a mix of Soviet-era and more modern US and other foreign equipment; since 2010, the US was the leading supplier of arms to Afghanistan, followed by Russia (2021)
