Enayatullah Khwarazmi, a spokesman for the Taliban-run defenсe ministry, said the ranks of the new Afghan army had been filled by 80%. A 20-men committee is doing the vetting.
Qari Fasihuddin, the Taliban's chief of staff of the armed forces, told al-Jazeera in November that the insurgency planned to recruit 150,000 fighters to join their ranks.
The Islamist militancy has also been seeking to woo officials who served under the ousted administration over to the Taliban-controlled ministry. They said many staffers had returned to work.