In a report sent to members of Congress in the US and verified by the Pentagon, it was stated that the fall of the US-backed government in Afghanistan gave Taliban members access to $7 billion worth of American military equipment.
The findings in the report, first reported by CNN, detail the extent of Washington’s support for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces against terrorist organizations such as the Taleban or al-Qaeda and ISIS Khorasan.
The report also details the weapons and equipment awaiting the Taliban officials after the last US troops left Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30, 2021, exactly 20 years after the first American troops went to Afghanistan.
“The equipment is not the equipment used by the US military”
According to the report and the Pentagon, from the $18.6 billion worth of weapons and equipment provided by the United States to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces from 2005 to August 2021, $7 billion remained of military equipment and weapons.
Major Rob Lodewick, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, said these included aircraft, vehicles, munitions, weapons and communications equipment, as well as equipment of various repair levels. A Pentagon spokesman stressed that military hardware and equipment are now the property of the defunct Afghan government.
Spokesperson Lodewick said in a written statement, “The $7.12 billion figure in the Department of Defense’s latest report to Congress is not US army equipment used by our soldiers; He points to the equipment of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces. “All equipment used by US military forces in Afghanistan was either destroyed or rendered unusable prior to withdrawal.”
There was criticism from members of Congress.
Senior officials from the US Department of Defense were the target of criticism from senior members of Congress over the US withdrawal process from Afghanistan and the collapse of the US-backed government in the country.
Senior Republican Senator Jim Inhofe on the Senate Armed Services Committee told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in September, “We witnessed a nightmare caused by the President himself,” and used the phrase “preventable” for the events that took place.
“Everything that happened was predicted,” Inhofe said. President Biden and his advisers disobeyed the commanders. “He didn’t listen to Congress and couldn’t predict what we all knew was going to happen,” he said.
“Equipment left in Afghanistan is not cutting-edge”
Defense Department officials defended the military’s steps in a statement yesterday, trying to downplay the $7 billion worth of weapons and equipment, some of which were publicly displayed by Taliban fighters.
Commenting on the report, which has not yet been made public, the defense ministry official, who has not been named, told Voice of America, “We are not naive. It looks like these things are happening,” he said.
However, the official stressed that the equipment used by the Taliban is not the same equipment used by the US and allied forces before they left Afghanistan. “It is not state-of-the-art equipment. “Everything we provide to Afghan forces is not at the same level as what we or our allies are using,” he said.
The official said that even more advanced equipment is unlikely to strengthen the Taliban. “Technological equipment, aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, precision ammunition for aircraft. These are things that are subject to maintenance,” he said, adding that most of these systems were in poor readiness for use even when American forces were on the ground to assist Afghan forces. The official said it is highly likely that many of these equipment will quickly become unusable.
Pentagon officials told VOA that as the last American troops leave Afghanistan, very little equipment belonging to the United States and used by the American military is left behind. Authorities state that the value of this equipment was around $150 million before it was destroyed or rendered unusable.