Almost 30,000 Afghan troops killed since 2015: Ghani

The death toll among Afghanistan's security forces is nearing 30,000 since the start of 2015, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has said, a figure far higher than anything previously acknowledged.

Ghani appeared via video link this week at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, part of a university he once taught at as a professor of anthropology.

Since the start of 2015, when local police and army units succeeded NATO as bearing responsibility for Afghanistan's security, "28,529 of our security forces have lost their lives and become martyrs for our freedom," Ghani said.

In the same timeframe, 58 Americans have been killed, he said.

"I would like to salute the patriotism of the Afghan security forces, every single one of whom is a volunteer," Ghani said.

"We have no conscription, nobody is forced, and if there was not a patriotic impulse I don't think that people would sacrifice their lives for a pay of $200."