After Washington left Afghanistan

The Taliban seizes billions of dollars in US weapons

  • The weapons of the Afghan army were seized by the "Taliban" after the collapse of the Kabul government.

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    archival

  • Trump demanded the return of all US military equipment from Afghanistan.

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    AFP

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Glen Kesler*

Former US President Donald Trump said in a statement, on August 30, that “all American equipment from Afghanistan, worth about $83 billion, must be demanded to be returned to the United States,” although many did not care what Trump said. However, this announcement spread widely on right-wing social media, that the Taliban had seized US weapons worth $83 billion.


In fact, the figure of $83 billion was not extracted from a vacuum, but rather it is the sum of all the money that was spent in order to train and equip the Afghan army and security forces, so the weapons are part of these expenses, and so far no one knows the value of the equipment they seized.” The Taliban, exactly.


This figure, an accurate $82.9 billion, comes from estimates issued in a report published on July 30 by the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, about all the money spent on security forces in Afghanistan, since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.


This spending has decreased over the years. The last, in 2021, it amounted to about three billion, which is the same amount in 2020.


There is a separate amount of 36 billion dollars to support the Government of Afghanistan, and thus these expenditures on Afghanistan amount to about 144 billion dollars, and an amount of 83 billion dollars was spent on the Afghan security and military forces Over two decades, including $19 billion spent between 2002 and 2009.


The US Government Accountability Office stated in 2017, that about 29% of that amount spent on Afghan security forces, between 2005 and 2016, was for equipment and transportation. This figure represents 24 billion dollars, and the office said that about 70 percent of the equipment went to the Afghan army and the rest to the police.


Between 2005 and 2016, the US taxpayer paid for 76,000 vehicles, 600,000 weapons, and about 200 aircraft, according to the US Government Accountability Office, and of course some of this equipment has become obsolete or destroyed, and may no longer be usable.


The report of the inspector general for the reconstruction of Afghanistan shows that 167 out of 211 aircraft can be used, but the Afghan air force still lacks qualified pilots, and the “Taliban” has worked to target and kill the pilots, and another problem is the lack of sufficient maintenance crews for these aircraft. The Taliban seized a number of Black Hawk helicopters, including helicopters shipped this year to Afghanistan at the request of President Ashraf Ghani, and only one maintenance crew was trained.


At a time when the US military was working to finish its mission in Afghanistan, it handed over facilities and equipment to the Afghan security forces, which increases the overall equipment obtained by the "Taliban", but the head of the Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, said before leaving Kabul Airport, in August 30, that the army worked to disable 70 anti-mine vehicles, 27 "Humvees", and 73 aircraft, adding: "These planes will never fly, and will not be operated by anyone," said researcher Anthony Cordesman, from the Center for Strategic Studies. And the international: "No one knows the number of equipment that fell into the hands of (the Taliban) during the past weeks, but without the help of foreign parties, the (Taliban) will face difficult problems, and it will not be able to operate these equipment."

Weapon spoils


American military equipment has been provided to the security forces in Afghanistan over the course of two decades, and many tanks, vehicles, helicopters and other equipment fell into the hands of the “Taliban” when the Afghan army, trained by Washington, quickly collapsed. The value of this equipment remains unclear, but given that the Taliban will not be able to obtain spare parts, they may not be able to maintain them.


In fact, the value of the equipment is less than $80 billion, which is the total amount that has been spent on training and arming the Afghan army over two decades. The total value of the equipment is about $24 billion, but certainly the value of the equipment seized by the Taliban is much less than that amount.


* An American correspondent in domestic and foreign policy for nearly three decades.



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Over two decades, $83 billion has been spent on the Afghan security and military forces, including $19 billion spent between 2002 and 2009.


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Between 2005 and 2016, the American taxpayer paid the price of 76,000 vehicles, 600,000 weapons, and about 200 aircraft, according to the US Government Accountability Office.

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