It’s possible that the U.S. left behind billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment in Afghanistan as they pulled out of nearly 20 years of occupation this week, said USA Today.
During the occupation of Afghanistan, the U.S. spent $83 billion to train and equip the Afghan army, which was intended to defend a U.S.-backed government in the country according to the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. While the U.S. was working on plans to finally move troops out of Afghanistan this month, the Afghan army failed to prevent the Taliban – a fundamentalist Islamic group that governed the country prior to U.S. control – from taking over again.
Though the Pentagon and White House said Afghan army ranks had 300,000 soldiers, USA Today said there were fewer. Earlier this summer Afghanistan's ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul, delivered by the United States, Reuters reported.
A group of Republican senators demanded a “full accounting” of all the U.S.
military equipment left in the country on Aug. 18.
Aircraft, armored vehicles and “sophisticated defensive systems” were some of the items left behind in the scramble to evacuate Kabul as the Taliban took over, according to USA Today. Some of this equipment was made inoperable before the U.S. left, said Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command.
To demilitarize and destroy key components U.S. equipment left behind, some troops used thermate grenades, which burn at temperatures of 4,000 degrees, said a defense department official who was not authorized to speak publicly, according to USA Today. Another defense official who authorized to speak publicly also said a blast heard last week at the airport was related to destroying equipment.
According to USA Today, equipment left behind includes: as many as 70 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles estimated at $1 million apiece, 27 Humvee vehicles estimated at around $300,000 per piece and 73 aircraft vehicles as well as counter-rocket, artillery and mortar systems.
Although McKenzie did not identify what types of aircraft were left behind, he said that the equipment “will never fly again.”
Additionally, McKenzie didn’t specify how many counter-rocket, artillery or mortar systems might be left behind. Units that cost around $10 million apiece detect and shoot down incoming rockets and artillery and mortar round, said USA Today. McKenzie said pieces were kept until the end to ensure that the Kabul airfield was defended.
Indeed, the Kabul airport was the site of suicide bombings and rocket attack in the final days of the U.S. evacuation..
McKenzie said that the equipment would be of no use in combat.
Without U.S. military aid, equipment should degrade and become obsolete. The systems and material will have little more than symbolic value, said Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant and military analyst at the Lexington Institute
However, USA Today said the Taliban likely display the gear as trophies of their decades-long fight to retake their country.
“Certainly, our objective was not to leave them with any equipment, but that is not always an option when you are looking to retrograde and move out of a war zone,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said of weapons left behind in Afghanistan.
Tuesday marked the deadline to remove troops from the country and the official end of the longest war in U.S. history.
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