Cost estimates keep rising and the timetable keeps going out further and further as the US comes to grips with the reality that huge amounts of equipment they’ve spent the last 12-plus years pouring into occupied Afghanistan is unneeded, unwanted, and a liability.
Shipping all that “surplus” hardware out of Afghanistan is going to cost many billions of dollars, and though officials say they hope to have it done by the end of 2014, the plans keep getting pushed out as new obstacles emerge.
The US has been desperately trying to unload some of the burden, giving it to other nations for pennies on the dollar or even in some cases “gifting” it if they agree to ship it out of Afghanistan. But a lot of the stuff’s not wanted.
The multi-ton MRAPS personnel carriers, for instance, cost $1 million a pop, and that’s before shipping. But the Army has so many after years of pumping them into Afghanistan they’ve got more than they ever needed, and with no real use, they’ve figured that shredding them and selling the scrap metal to junk dealers in Afghanistan is the best they can do now.
That’s no isolated incident, as officials have previously conceded that $7 billion worth of US gear that is just not worth shipping home is going to be shredded. The Afghan government has been hoping to get their hands on some of it.
That’s unlikely, however, simply for PR reasons. The Afghan government may well have use for a lot of this gear, but losing it to the Taliban becomes a distinct possibility, and having Taliban fighters showing off captured US equipment, no matter who they captured it from, is too much of an embarrassment for officials to risk.
One more victory for the MIC. No doubt more similar material will be bought by the US military (at taxpaer expense) when they invade the next helpless little country.
The US could certainly use the Zaranji crossing into Iran. This would open up rail access and large ports on both the Gulf and the Arabian Sea. There are countries willing to buy a lot of the excess military hardware, but not it they have to go into Afghanistan to get it.
By making friends with Iran's new government, this could make selling a lot of this equipment much easier, and as a bonus, moving it further and further away from Kabul and the Taliban.
Here is a good idea – put all of this "disposable military junk" in a big pile, partially burn it, let dogs defecate on it, etc., and then take photos of it. Copies of these photos can be attached to everyone's 1040 Forms, with subtitle, "Your tax money at Work".