Over $7 billion worth US military equipment abandoned in Afghanistan!

According to the US Department of Defense, American forces left $7.12 billion in military gear in Afghanistan after leaving the war-torn nation in August of last year. For 16 years, the United States funded the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) with $18.6 billion in military gear. After the US withdrew from Afghanistan, $7.12 billion of equipment, including air-to-ground bombs, planes, military vehicles, weapons, and other military hardware, remained in the nation.

Putting an end to the arduous evacuation procedure, the US military has stated that they would not return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, either to destroy or reclaim the equipment. The massive amount of equipment left behind in Afghanistan will help to concentrate attention on the disorderly exit of the US from the war-torn nation, which has been harshly denounced by leaders from both parties. According to the DoD study, practically all of the equipment that remained in Afghanistan required specialized maintenance.

Rob Lodewick, a US Defense Department army major, stated that all equipment left in Afghan territory belonged to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). He went on to say that the military supplies utilized by the US forces throughout the conflict were either destroyed or retrograded before the US left Afghanistan. The sum of $7.12 billion was not included in the total.

Additionally, planes worth $923.3 million that were left behind in Afghanistan were demilitarised and made unusable before the US’s withdrawal. Other equipment left behind included night vision, surveillance, ‘biometric and positioning systems,’ and explosive ordinance disposal and demining equipment, in addition to $6.54 million in air-to-ground munitions and about 40,000 military vehicles.

Earlier, on August 31, the last few US military jets flew out of Afghanistan after completing their chaotic task of evacuating American people, hapless Afghan civilians, and third-country nationals from the Taliban’s unjustified assault and control of Afghanistan.