President Joe Biden created a humanitarian disaster by abruptly withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan earlier this month — but the worst of it will come from what was left behind.
According to Reuters, officials estimate that the Taliban is now equipped with a war chest that includes advanced weapons, intelligence-gathering apparatus and as many as 40 aircraft and more than 2,000 armored vehicles — all courtesy of the U.S.A.
“We have already seen Taliban fighters armed with U.S.-made weapons they seized from the Afghan forces,” Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the news outlet.
“This poses a significant threat to the United States and our allies,” the top Republican on the committee said.
“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” an anonymous U.S. official reportedly said.
Prior to the announced withdrawal of American forces that Biden hastily moved up to Aug. 31, the U.S. had provided the Afghan military with $28 billion worth of instruments of war between 2002 and 2017.
During the two decades at war, American taxpayers purchased more than 200 aircraft, 162,000 pieces of communications apparatus and a whopping 600,000 guns — including machine guns and M16 rifles — for Afghanistan’s military forces.
They had Humvees, scout attack and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones, howitzers and even 16,000 night-vision devices — with some portion of these materials now in the hands of the Taliban.
“The ability to operate at night is a real game-changer,” an unnamed congressional aide told Reuters.
Kabul fell and the Taliban took over seemingly overnight in the humiliating debacle Biden created, and footage of the terrorists showing off some of these newly purloined weapons made its way to social media.
A large cache of U.S. weapons was seized at a weapons depot in Herat by the Taliban. pic.twitter.com/4XknI20BKe
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) August 18, 2021
In an unknown location in Afghanistan, the Taliban seized a large cache of M4 carbines, LMGs, PVS-7D, night vision goggles, and assorted U.S. military equipment. pic.twitter.com/0jizGD8oHQ
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) August 18, 2021
The Taliban looted a massive cache of U.S. weapons from a deserted weapons depot on the way to Kabul. pic.twitter.com/OnAgpdtbCO
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) August 18, 2021
In the city of Mazar-e Sharif, the Taliban captured and unboxed numerous U.S. weapons, armored vehicles, body armor, and assorted equipment. pic.twitter.com/MQ8e3RfagL
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) August 18, 2021
Fortunately, as many as 50 aircraft have left the country as Afghan airmen fled for safety while several other planes had already been removed for maintenance.
“Ironically, the fact that our equipment breaks down so often is a life-saver here,” an unnamed official told Reuters.
However, even the ones that aren’t usable or easily operated can become propaganda tools against the U.S.
“In some cases, some of these will be more like trophies,” said retired U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, who was previously head of U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan.
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Officials worry that these weapons could also be used against civilians in Afghanistan or even sold to adversarial nations like China, and that means Biden is now in a tough spot with so much equipment falling into the hands of the Taliban.
Experts are left to mull whether it is better to send targeted airstrikes to destroy the equipment and possibly further provoke the Taliban, or simply to let them have it all.
This situation could have been avoided with some prudence and a slow drawdown with the promise to ratchet things up should skirmishes break out. That would have been the least Biden could have done to prevent this situation.
What’s happening now looks worse than the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and the situation is still escalating as the Taliban settle back into their place as the oppressive regime in charge.
Not only did Biden leave the people of Afghanistan twisting in the wind; he also armed the enemy to the hilt — what a shameful, awful betrayal from an American president.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.