During its recent advance to control the territory of Afghanistan, old helicopters used by the Afghan army fell into the hands of the Taliban, which raises the concern of the United States and the West if the movement controls more advanced air equipment.

Do you even have the ability to use it?

Can you sell it to China and Russia?

This is what Marcus Weisberger and Tara Cope discuss in their article published on Defense One.

Afghan security forces have a track record of losing US-supplied pistols and machine guns, but the Taliban's encroachment on more Afghan territory after the withdrawal of US forces threatens to lose Afghanistan to what is even more dangerous: fighter jets.

The US Department of Defense, the Pentagon, says that has not happened yet, and that the Afghan air force is carrying out its tasks and launching air strikes against the Taliban daily.

But the Taliban have already taken control of armored vehicles, spy drones, and a number of helicopters that are currently not taking off.

The question now is: Will the Taliban reach more?

"We are constantly concerned about American equipment falling into the hands of our enemies, and what we can do to prevent that from happening is something I won't think about today," said John Kirby, a Pentagon press officer.

🔴 Taliban, Kunduz vilayetinde hükümet birliklerinin geride bıraktığı yüzlerce askeri zırhlı araca el koydu.

pic.twitter.com/SHRXqZuf52

— Conflict (@ConflictTR) August 12, 2021

As of June 30, the Afghan Air Force owned nearly two hundred aircraft, but only 167 of them were available for military missions, according to the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, SIGAR.

The planes fly from two air bases, one in Kabul and the other in Kandahar, both of which are now under Taliban control.

Many planes and helicopters have their ammunition, but the most dangerous is a small fleet of 24 A-29 Super Tucanos fighter jets, which the Americans supplied to their counterparts in the Afghan forces so that they could provide close air support to their fighters on the ground, and those planes can drop Various laser-guided bombs.

A-29 Super Tucanos fighter

The Afghan government also possesses fifty American-made MD-530 combat helicopters equipped with missiles and automatic machine guns, in addition to the American UH-60 Black Hawk and Russian Mi helicopters. 17", and C-130 and Cessna military transport aircraft.

The United States continues to provide financial support for the maintenance of these aircraft, according to Kirby: "We have made commitments to help them (Afghan Air Force) enhance their capabilities, and these commitments remain."

The Afghan Air Force has US UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

According to reports coming from Afghanistan, the Taliban has acquired a Mi-35 helicopter previously donated by India to the Afghan government, but the video recording of the incident showed the plane without the rotors that help it take off.

The movement also published a video of two Mi-17 helicopters with their spare parts, in addition to obtaining a severely damaged MD-530 helicopter.

Video reportingly shows #Taliban captured Kunduz airport with #Afghanistan Air Force Mi-35 Hind attack helicopter pic.twitter.com/u7jZJdR800

— Joseph Dempsey (@JosephHDempsey) August 11, 2021

But even if the Taliban have access to intact military aircraft, it will be difficult for them to use them without proper training, according to those familiar with the techniques of military aircraft of this type.

A trained pilot can actually fly one of these planes, but he will also need to know the nature of their ammunition of bombs and missiles, how to prepare them for use and arm the plane with them, and because the planes are in constant need of maintenance, they are not likely to be used for a long time, even by these competent pilots.

However, to prevent those planes from falling into unwelcome hands, the Pentagon could blow up planes and their airstrips, but Kirby did not say what decisions the US military might take in this regard: “I will not consider a matter such as destroying our property, our eyes will remain on Making sure (Afghan forces) have the capabilities to use aircraft in battle."

Another possibility is that the Taliban will sell these planes to Russia and China, which in turn will seek to exploit the technology in them. The Taliban can also take advantage of the planes, even if they are not airworthy, by publishing pictures and recordings of the planes they are acquiring as a form of political propaganda.

But the alarm had already sounded before the Taliban began encroaching on Afghan cities and towns last week, with some warning of the inability of the United States to monitor weapons given to Afghan security forces.

Last December, the Inspector General (SIGAR) stated that the Pentagon "has not yet met the revised 'end-user' requirements to take into account sensitive military components to the Afghan government, which are designed to reduce potential national security risks from the misuse or modification of the use of military components." involving sensitive technology (by the parties to whom those weapons were given)."

Given US President Joe Biden's orders to withdraw, the Inspector General (SIGAR) says that "there is massive overcrowding of aircraft platforms as a result of increasing demands for close air support, monitoring, oversight, and intelligence gathering missions, and for aerial resupply services lost by the Afghan Defense and Security Forces." After the U.S. air support umbrella has cleared.

In addition, a quarter of the aircraft in the possession of Afghan forces are behind in their regular maintenance schedule, which exacerbates supply problems and delays regular maintenance as well as required maintenance due to the effects of the battles.

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This report is translated from Defense One and does not necessarily reflect the website of Medan.