The Pentagon’s Inspector General said Tuesday that the now-defunct US-backed Afghan government had over $7 billion in US military equipment at the time of its collapse last year and that most of it was seized by the Taliban.
“The DoD estimated that US-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed, much of which has since been seized by the Taliban,” the Inspector General’s report said.
The report said the things left behind included “military aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons, and other military equipment.” The majority of the equipment was tactical ground vehicles, such as MRAPs and Humvees, worth an estimated $4.12 billion.
The Inspector General said that the US military “destroyed nearly all major equipment used by US troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021.” Monday marked one year since the Taliban entered Kabul and the US-backed Afghan government officially collapsed.
On Wednesday, the Taliban reportedly tested two US-made aircraft in flights over Kabul, a sign that they have the means to repair the equipment. The Taliban have said that they would integrate pilots, mechanics, and other specialists from the former US-backed Afghan army.
The US had plans to increase funding for Afghanistan’s forces after the withdrawal as Washington expected to be funding a proxy war against the Taliban for years to come. But the plan failed as the US-backed forces agreed to surrender to the Taliban. Some of the military aid meant for Afghanistan has been sent to Ukraine, including Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters.
Throughout the war, the US spent about $88 billion arming and training the Afghan forces as part of its reconstruction efforts, which were defined by exorbitant waste. Overall, the US spent $2.3 trillion on the war in Afghanistan, a figure that includes interest on war borrowing and veterans care.
I believe that something very similar happened after Vietnam…
Won’t happen in Ukraine. They’re selling it as soon as it arrives.
The Taliban is stronger than before we invaded Afghanistan. They never even had control of the whole country before. But now they do AND $7 billion in American weapons to boot. Look at what 20 years of interventionism and trillions wasted has wrought? The sad thing is that none of the hawks in DC learned ANYTHING from this debacle and is now clamoring for war with Russian AND China.
I’ll bet they would give it back if Biden had not reneged on his end of the bargain.
The Taliban did not ask for the hardware. Keeping the stolen money is still theft. US should have taken the hardware with them when leaving Afghanistan. May be the Taliban can sell the stuff to highest bidder and use the money to feed its people.
If the heterogenous assortment of broken down crap the Taliban seized actually cost US taxpayers over 7 billion dollars, then the REAL crime is the downright theft being perpetuated by the MICC on the US treasury. A handful of Brazilian propeller aircraft, some “rehabbed” Blackhawks already retired from US service, repainted and given an overhaul; and some ex-soviet junk purchased secondhand from former Warsaw Pact members. Not to mention an immense used-car lot full of obsolescent HMMWVs and “MRAPs” – which the Taliban hardlt use, much preferring their Pakistani-supplied Toyota pick up trucks.
Small arms and ammunition is a different matter, but the Taliban was hardly lacking for those even before the takeover.
Compare and contrast “The US had plans to increase funding for Afghanistan’s forces after the withdrawal” with “destroyed nearly all major equipment used by US troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period”. The US destroyed its own equipment so it could buy the Afghanis more afterwards?
2.3 trillion dollars for this mess. J. F. C. How many trillions is it going to cost to lose to the Russians? 10? 20? Should we just be happy if we’re only bankrupted instead of nuked?
Really, Joey Biden: $7 Billion in Afghanistan and $54 Billion in Ukraine.
You really are a senile angry old POS!
Can Taliban return the US military equipment to Pentagon and receive $7 Billion…?!
The paperwork would cost $14 billion.
And amazingly the pentagon came up with precisely $7.12 billion for all their toys left behind.
An earlier spokesman for the Pentagon said that it didn’t amount to much anyway because most of the equipment was broken and useless.
Doesn’t it warm your heart to know that your tax dollars is used to buy military equipment that rapidly becomes useless junk?
And there is the fact that the $7.12 billion is just a smidge more than the $7 billion in frozen assets. Waiting for the demand that the Taliban pay the $.12 billion difference. That or tell everyone what nice people we are and say we are even. Either way, we are off the hook and those people starving isn’t our fault. A neat little package and bought already by other people making comments here.
Not me. In a trade off, abandoned property doesn’t incur any obligation to compensate those that abandoned it.
Yeah, who says it is worth that much? The Pentagon. Based on what? FMV? I seriously doubt that! What some MIC corporation says it is worth? What the USA charged to its proxy government’s “account” when it shipped the rubbish over there? I scoff at the claim that these odds and ends are really “worth” anywhere near that amount of money.
At the time, the largest components of military aid were described as ammo and fuel, things that were consumed in the fighting.
The Taliban did not take that over.
What fighting? Ana melted away