The Taliban has wound up with a massive amount of US military equipment that was originally given to the now-defunct Afghan government. According to a report from Reuters, the Biden administration is considering bombing some of the larger equipment.
The report cited unnamed US officials who said bombing equipment such as helicopters has not been ruled out. But the US fears that such an action would antagonize the Taliban. Washington is reliant on the Taliban to allow US citizens to travel to the Kabul airport to be airlifted out of the country.
Up to this point, the Taliban has been cooperating with the US and there have been no reports of Americans being stopped or harassed on their way to the airport, according to the Pentagon. But if the US starts launching airstrikes, that would change.
Citing a US intelligence assessment, the report said the Taliban has wound up with over 2,000 armored vehicles and over 40 aircraft, including helicopters, planes, and drones. The officials said the US is worried that the equipment could be handed over to China or Russia.
Before Kabul fell to the Taliban, the US stepped up airstrikes in Afghanistan and was targeting some of its own equipment that had been left behind. “Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” one US official told Reuters.
Besides destroying equipment, the recent airstrikes also killed civilians. In one instance in Lashkar Gah, the US bombed a health clinic and a school, killing 20.
If the United States bombs the Taliban equipment, the Taliban would bomb the Kabul airport and we would have another 20 years of war.
We have a ceasefire w/the Taliban. Bombing them breaks the ceasefire and risks civilian lives. Don’t let FOX news control foreign policy.
Should have disabled the equipment on the way out. Destroyed parts.
The Afghan military would have no idea how to do that, and wouldn’t if they could.
Surrendering equipment intact to the Taliban is a cheap trade for their lives.
2,000 “armored” vehicles?
Russia has over 15 thousand battle tanks. China more than 9,000. Why on earth would they want some obsolete Humvee death traps the US is already replacing? Looks to me this is part of somebody’s campaign to resume bombing Afghanistan with very expensive munitions.
So we get to pay for this “war” twice!
The Taliban wouldn’t know how to use most of that stuff anyway.
Where would the Taliban find computer techs, tank mechanics, and attack helicopter pilots?
People with modern tech skills would be among the first to flee Afghanistan.