The Taliban are creating a "grand army" for Afghanistan, which will include officers and troops who served under the previous regime, AFP reported, citing an official source in charge of transforming military structures in the country.

Latifullah Hakimi, head of the Taliban's Ranks Clearance Commission, said Taliban forces had taken control of more than 300,000 light weapons, 26,000 heavy weapons and about 61,000 pieces of military equipment during the takeover.

Afghanistan's armed forces disintegrated last summer in the face of a Taliban onslaught ahead of the US-led withdrawal on 31 August.

The Taliban have promised a general amnesty for everyone linked to the old regime, but almost all senior government and military officials were among the more than 120,000 people who evacuated by air in the final days.

Many of the rank-and-file officials remained, however, returning to civilian life and not showing any sign of it, but fearing reprisals.

The United Nations said in January that more than 100 people linked to the old armed forces had been killed since August.

There was little evidence of the Taliban taking in ex-servicemen, but over the weekend they appointed two senior officers of the former Afghan National Army to senior posts in the defence ministry.

Both are specialist surgeons working at the country's main military hospital.

Hakimi said they would form "a grand army ... according to the country's needs and the national interests", although he did not specify a size.