The Bundeswehr equipped the Afghan security forces with 10,000 pistols during their 20-year deployment.

In addition, only medical supplies and clothing had been handed over to the army and the police since 2002, the Ministry of Defense informed the German Press Agency upon request.

The Walther P1 pistols were made available free of charge in 2006.

The ministry is not aware of what happened to it after the militant Islamist Taliban came to power.

"The BmVg (Ministry of Defense) has no knowledge of whether these goods have fallen into the hands of the Taliban," said a spokeswoman.

In many places the Afghan armed forces surrendered to the Taliban without a fight.

During the 20 years of international military use, they were mainly equipped by the USA.

Between 2013 and 2016 alone, the United States provided the army and police with nearly 600,000 firearms, 76,000 vehicles and more than 200 aircraft, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing a US government report.

Washington freely admitted that much of the military equipment is now likely to be used by the Islamists.

"Of course we do not have a complete picture of where each armament has gone, but certainly a lot of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban," said US President Joe Biden's security advisor, Jake Sullivan.

German delivery primarily to NATO forces

Since the start of the military operation in 2002, the German government has approved the export of war weapons and other armaments to Afghanistan for 419 million euros. The vast majority, however, was delivered to the armed forces of the NATO allies, embassies or the United Nations, including tanks, armored vehicles and small arms such as rifles and submachine guns. Only a small proportion went to the Afghan security forces, mainly protected vehicles, demining equipment, reinforced containers, protective equipment or communication devices. This emerges from the government's annual arms export reports and a current list of the Federal Ministry of Economics, which is available to the dpa.