Time.news – US weapons, ammunition, aircraft and other equipment, worth billions of dollars, are now in the hands of the Taliban, who with the lightning collapse of the Afghan security forces have taken possession of a modern and diversified arsenal, but without the necessary training enjoyed by the local army. This was confirmed by the National Security Advisor of the White House, Jake Sullivan, which has become the face of the Joe Biden administration’s crisis in Afghanistan.
As proof of the fact that the Taliban managed to grab the military treasure, the result of years of collaboration between US and Afghan forces, there are the photos taken in recent days: the militiamen appear armed with M4 carbines and M16 rifles instead of the Russian AK-47s assault rifles, used for the advance on the national territory. Islamic extremists have also been spotted with US Army military reconnaissance vehicles, Humvees, and others protected by mine-resistant ambushes. Among the equipment seized by the Taliban there are also Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano attack planes.
While it is virtually impossible to use advanced aircraft without training – the ones that Afghan troops have received in recent years – the hardware seizure gives the militiamen a significant propaganda boost, underscoring the amount of funds Washington invested in 20 years of war and gone. wasted. A further blow to the image and popularity of Democratic President Joe Biden, who dropped below 50% for the first time.
Estimates on US equipment for Afghan forces
According to US media calculations, in two decades, the US has spent about $ 83 billion on Afghan security forces’ equipment and training. According to a report of the Government Accountability Office in 2017, between 2003 and 2016, the States transferred 75,898 vehicles, 599,690 weapons, 162,643 communication equipment, 208 aircraft and 16,191 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance means to the Afghan forces. Last year’s Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan (Cigar) report, reports that from 2017 to 2019, among other equipment provided by the United States to Afghan forces, 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers. As of June 30, the inventory of the Afghan forces also included 211 aircraft delivered by Washington. At least 46 of these planes are now in Uzbekistan, after more than 500 Afghan soldiers used them to flee when the Kabul government was collapsing last weekend. In addition, as the US military was withdrawing from Afghanistan, Washington continued to supply aircraft to the Afghans last month, with plans to relocate 35 Black Hawk helicopters and three A-29s.
“It is not clear exactly how many and what weapons have fallen into the hands of the Taliban, but the Biden administration has already acknowledged that this is a fair amount,” admits Sullivan, in response to harsh criticism at home and abroad for the withdrawal. of US troops. Sullivan pointed out that “those Black Hawks were not given to the Taliban. They were given to the Afghan National Security Forces to be able to defend themselves at the specific request of President Ghani, who came to the Oval Office and asked, among other things, for additional aerial capabilities ”. Even the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said yesterday that there was a “very deliberate” process as US forces withdrew in deciding what equipment to destroy, give to Afghan forces or redeploy elsewhere in the Middle East.
In the wake of these embarrassing revelations, 25 Republican senators, led by Marco Rubio, sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, asking for a “full report“US military equipment sold to Afghan forces in the past 12 months, what was seized by the Taliban and plans to recover or destroy the equipment.
“It is inconceivable that the high-tech military equipment paid for by US taxpayers has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies,” the senators wrote in the letter. “When an armed group gets their hands on American-made weapons, it’s kind of a status symbol. It’s a psychological victory, “said Elias Yousif, Deputy Director of the Security Assistance Monitor at the Center for International Policy.
According to Yousif, the main source of concern about the military arsenal in the hands of the Taliban relates to the large amount of small arms in circulation in Afghanistan. “They are durable goods, easy to maintain, relatively simple to use, which can be transported, transferred and sold very easily”, underlined the expert. Instead, it appears much less likely that the Taliban will be able to use some of the most advanced US weapons, including aircraft, without any training, unless they force former Afghan pilots to fly for them. In addition to the Afghan quagmire, the catastrophic withdrawal of US troops “discredits the security cooperation sector in other scenarios in which they are more involved, such as the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia,” concluded Yousif.
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