Commandant: Marines Won’t Leave A Single Thing in Afghanistan

Says Sequestration Means More Gear Will Be Needed

Afghanistan is not just the graveyard of empires, it is also the graveyard of military equipment. The country is littered with gear from the Soviet occupation, and the US is planning to dump huge amounts of “shredded” gear on Afghan metal dealers.

But US Marines Commandant Gen. James Amos says that every single shred of equipment the Marines have been using in the occupation of Afghanistan will be removed from the country before the war’s end.

I’m not planning on leaving anything,” Amos said, adding that he didn’t want anything with USMC printed on the side to still be in Afghanistan, and that all the gear would either be shipped back or given to other countries.

Amos insisted that sequestration was a big part of the decision, and that with budget cuts more gear would need to be reused. Yet the massive cost of shipping gear out of Afghanistan means the decision is likely not about finances.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.