Kabul: The novel Coronavirus is sweeping through Afghanistan’s security forces, say senior Afghan security officials from four provinces who report suspected infection rates of 60 to 90 per cent among their units — reducing the number of forces available to conduct operations or take up duty at outposts.

Few have died, the officials say, but little to no testing capacity has forced many into weeks of isolation, leaving deployable forces stretched thin at a time when the country is under pressure from both increased Taliban violence and from the United States, where officials are eager for the government and militants to begin direct talks.

Afghanistan has extremely low Coronavirus testing rates: Less than 0.2 per cent of its population — 64,900 people out of an estimated 37.6 million — has been tested. As of June 25, more than 30,000 people were confirmed to have contracted the Coronavirus and more than 670 died. But the Health Ministry warns that the true numbers are much higher, and that as many as 26 million people in the country could be infected with the virus in coming months and that the death toll could top 100,000.

The Afghan government refuses to release data on the number of Coronavirus cases within the security forces.

Security officials from Nangahar, Ghazni, Logar and Kunduz provinces — all heavily contested by the Taliban — spoke about infection rates within their ranks on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Compounding concerns about an effective security force is the diminished presence of US military support. The United States has withdrawn thousands of troops in recent months as part of a peace deal with the Taliban. And worries early in the pandemic about the vulnerability of Afghanistan’s security forces to the virus caused US troops to halt joint ground operations and restrict movement between Afghan and American bases, according to two Afghan officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. US forces also suspended most in-person training, according to a quarterly inspector general report.

In Herat, one of the epicenters of the virus’s outbreak in Afghanistan, Police Chief Obaidullah Noorzai said only 36 positive cases were registered among the thousands of police officers under his command. He also said he has received ample support from Kabul and US forces in Afghanistan to contain the virus.

But other commanders on the ground say those numbers are skewed by extremely limited testing. At some bases, commanders reported receiving no testing kits and no additional medical supplies.

“The Ministry of Defence didn’t give us anything,” said an Afghan military commander stationed in Ghazni province. “No one assisted us; there was no medication; no one gave us even the simplest medicine.” The commander said nearly all the troops under his command showed symptoms of the Coronavirus at one point over the past month.

Without any testing kits, he said, he had no choice but to quarantine most of his forces.