From what I was reading at the time, there is more to the story. I believe it was in April Biden called for the withdrawal and pulled all support from the Afghan Army, including pay. The Kabul government took over but was paying late and sometimes not al all. Morale was at rock bottom. US air support dried up, advisors were gone. When the Taliban approached each city or province they called for a meeting with the military commander and offered a big payoff if they would walk away. The commanders took the money and told the troop to lay down their arms. Our intelligence and all NATO countries knew full well this was going to happen because that is what the Taliban has done in the past. Plus, the Taliban had fighters who has infiltrated each city beforehand - a fifth column. This is warfare we in the US don’t understand, but the people in that part of the world sure do.
No, they’d never have competed w/ the Taliban. I’ve seen videos of our trainers years ago saying that 75 to 80% were drugged up, it was like teaching a child, you had to tell them over and over, they’d show up late, no helmit or gun (probably given to the Taliban for some heroin.