Biden's pumped-up number for Afghan security forces Ever since President Biden announced his plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, he has emphasized that the Afghan security forces were more than 300,000 strong — "a force larger in size than the militaries of many of our NATO allies." Biden brandished this number when he announced his withdrawal timeframe April 14, when he reaffirmed his decision July 8, on Aug. 10 when the situation deteriorated, on Aug. 16 after Kabul fell to Taliban forces, and in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Aug. 18 after the Taliban gained control of the country. If Afghanistan actually had more than 300,000 military troops, the active force would be bigger than every NATO ally but Turkey. But this total is inflated, and Biden's constant use of the figure is misleading Americans about the capabilities of the Afghan military. In a 2021 report, the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) found that Afghanistan had an active force of 178,800; of these, 171,500 were in the army and 7,300 in the air force. "Reports suggested that already high losses and high levels of desertion further increased in 2020," the report said. "There was reported 22% personnel shortage in mid-2019, and there are problems in retaining key specialists including pilots and special-operations troops." IISS also noted that Afghanistan had 99,000 "paramilitary" forces, or members of the Afghan National Police. In its final report, issued this week, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that the national police routinely engaged in torture and abuse, which further "alienated local Afghans and undermined the U.S. government's overarching security goals for the country." The president earned Three Pinocchios. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Four fact checks from Biden's pharma speech In a speech Aug. 12 that outlined his push to have the government directly negotiate the price of some drugs available through Medicare, Biden made a number of claims about the pharmaceutical industry. We rounded up four of them. Here's a sample. Biden: "Right now, when a drug company seeks permission from the FDA — the Food and Drug Administration — for a certain drug to get a patent, it's allowed — the patent — it's allowed to exclusively sell that drug without competition for up to 12 years." A patent lasts 20 years, but it can take many years before a drug is formally approved by the Food and Drug Administration, eating up years of that twenty-year period. Once the drug is approved, there is an exclusivity period that can, in certain circumstances, add up to 12 years. But that does not mean the drug does not have competition. Most new medicines still face competition from similar drugs made by other companies or even generics. Avalere, a health-consulting firm, found that in 2019, less than 1 percent of Medicare Part D prescription drug spending was spent on a single-brand drug that was the only product in its therapeutic class. Another 8 percent was spent on single-brand drugs that faced competition from another brand drug. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @AdriUsero) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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