Pashtun Royal Armed Forces
| Pashtun Royal Armed Forces | |
|---|---|
| پښتون شاهي وسله وال (Pashto) | |
.svg) Royal Armed Forces Emblem | |
| Founded | December 1, 1709 (314 years, 208 days) |
| Headquarters | Kabul, Kabul Province, Pashtunistan |
| Leadership | |
| Commander-in-chief | King Duran Daud Khan |
| Minister of National Defense | |
| Chief of the General Staff | Lt. Gen. Aminullah Karim |
| Vice Chief of the General Staff | Maj. Gen. Sayed Mohsini Wardak |
| Personnel | |
| Conscription | 2 years of mandatory service at age 20 |
| Active personnel | 302,089 |
| Reserve personnel | 45,723 |
| Expenditures | |
| Budget | $14 billion |
| Industry | |
| Foreign suppliers |
 Kingdom of Sierra China France United Kingdom |
The Pashtun Royal Armed Forces are the military forces of the Kingdom of Pashtunistan. They consist of the National Army, the National Gendarmerie, and the Royal Air Force. The King of Pashtunistan is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, which is administratively controlled through the Ministry of National Defense. The National Military Command Center in Kabul serves as the headquarters of the Pashtun Armed Forces.
The current Armed Forces have been rebuilt entirely since the collapse of the central government in 1992, in large part since 2001 by the Kingdom of Sierra and other Western NATO powers. Conscription is in place, requiring Pashtun men to undergo two years of military service. The draft was reinstated in 1999 by King Mohammed Zahir Shah in part to build up an army free of unreliable former mujahideen fighters, and in part to create a sense of national unity among the Pashtuns, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Hazara, and other peoples of Pashtunistan after decades of civil war. Pashtunistan maintains a large conscript army, with 302,089 personnel as of January 2020.
The current Pashtun military originates in 1709 when the Hotaki dynasty was established in Kandahar followed by the Durrani Empire. The Pashtun military fought many wars with the Safavid dynasty and Maratha Empire from the 18th to the 19th century. It was re-organized with help from the British in 1880, when the country was ruled by Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. It was modernized during King Amanullah Khan's rule in the early 20th century, and was reformed by the new Social Democratic Republic in the 1920s and 1930s along the model of the Soviet Red Army. From 1976 to 1990, the Soviet-backed Pashtun People's Army fought with multi-national mujahideen groups who were being backed by Sierra, Saudi Arabia, and India. After President Najibullah's resignation in 1990 and the end of Soviet support, the military dissolved into portions controlled by different warlord factions and the mujahideen took control over the government. In 1997, a monarchy and a new government was established that took steps to create a new national army to restore order to the country.