By Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter
March 08, 2023 12:08 PM
The United States left behind more than $7 billion in military equipment in August 2021 amid a chaotic and disastrous U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the weapons and specialized technologies likely now in the hands of the Taliban.
John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, detailed the revelations related to U.S. military equipment that is now in the hands of the Taliban in a report on “Why the Afghan Security Forces Collapsed” released late last month.
President Joe Biden announced a full U.S. military withdrawal in April 2021, and the Taliban quickly took Kabul by mid-August 2021 as the Afghan military and government collapsed.
SIGAR said last month that the Pentagon submitted a report about the “U.S.-provided weapons and equipment left in Afghanistan following the withdrawal” and said the Defense Department revealed that “$7.2 billion worth of aircraft, guns, vehicles, ammunition, and specialized equipment like night vision goggles and biometric devices remain” in the Taliban-led Afghanistan.
Much of this equipment had been provided to the since-dissolved Afghan military, which collapsed in 2021 as the U.S. pulled its troops, contractors, and support, and as the Taliban rapidly advanced.
The Pentagon had assessed that at least 78 aircraft valued at $923.3 million, roughly 9,500 air-to-ground munitions worth $6.54 million, more than 40,000 vehicles, over 300,000 weapons, and “nearly all” of the specialized night vision, surveillance, communications, and biometric technology provided to the Afghan military were left behind to the Taliban.
The Afghan watchdog assessed that “the operational condition of $5.7 billion worth of abandoned weapons, ground vehicles, communications equipment, and specialized equipment including night vision, surveillance, biometric, and positioning equipment is unknown.”
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The White House has previously downplayed the value of the equipment left behind, and then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki argued at the end of August 2021 that “our objective was not to leave them with any equipment, but that is not always an option when you are looking to retrograde and move out of a war zone.”
SIGAR also noted that Afghan air force pilots “flew 64 aircraft to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to avoid Taliban capture” in August 2021, including jets and military helicopters. Sopko noted that the Taliban have asked Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to send the aircraft back to Afghanistan and is also working to gain control of other military equipment that exited Afghanistan. The Afghan watchdog wrote that the Pentagon “said the final disposition of these aircraft in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has not been settled and is subject to diplomatic discussions.”
Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is hosting his first hearing on the botched Afghan withdrawal on Wednesday, with witnesses including U.S. military veterans who were in Kabul during the chaotic evacuation in August 2021 amid the Taliban takeover, as well as witnesses who assisted in veteran-led efforts to rescue Americans and Afghan allies.
“The purpose of this hearing is twofold. First, it’s to serve as a scene setter — a reminder why this investigation is so important by hearing from the people who helped during the evacuation,” McCaul told the Washington Examiner in a statement provided by his office. “The second purpose of this hearing is to serve as chance for our veterans to finally tell their story. Many felt abandoned by their government, and forced them to open old wounds in order to save the people they fought alongside years ago. And now, 18 months later, many feel that same government has dismissed the trauma this caused — and tried to sweep the whole thing under the rug.”
