Afghan Taliban forces have seized billions of U.S.made weapons, including small arms, missiles, night-vision goggles and transport trucks, since they took control of Afghanistan this week. Reuters reported that these weapons and equipment could be used to kill civilians by Taliban militants.
Moreover, they suggested that these weapons could be given to adversaries, including China and Russia. An anonymous US official told Reuters that everything that hasn’t been destroyed is now Taliban property. In the meantime, videos have gone viral showing Taliban fighters inspecting weapons and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones.
Several Republican senators have called for accountability from the Biden administration over US military equipment that landed in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan. In response to the images coming out of Afghanistan of the Taliban retaking the country, Republican Senators wrote that they saw US equipment, including UH-60 Black Hawks, in Taliban hands.
Senators Bill Cassidy, Marco Rubio, and 23 GOP senators asked the Biden administration to account for taxpayer-funded American military equipment that may have fallen into the Taliban’s hands. It is unconscionable that high-tech military equipment purchased by US taxpayers has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies. Securing US assets should have been among the top priorities of the Department of Defense before announcing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the senators wrote.
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In their letter to Austin, they demanded a full accounting of the military equipment provided to the Afghan armed forces last year. ‘An assessment of the likelihood that the Taliban will turn to Russia, Pakistan, Iran or the People’s Republic of China for training, fuel, or infrastructure needed to use the equipment they lack the capability to operate on their own,’ the letter said.
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