[ad_1]
A video has emerged that appears to show Taliban fighters taking a Black Hawk helicopter on a ride through an Afghan airport – the latest example of how insurgents flaunt their newly acquired military gear and rub it in America’s face.
The former Afghan Air Force UH-60 Black Hawk is seen taxiing through an airport in Afghanistan, according to the Independent. However, he does not appear to leave the ground in the pictures.
russian television network RT and The Drive technical and automotive outlet identified the airfield as Kandahar Airport in south-eastern Afghanistan.
Joseph Dempsey, associate researcher for defense and military analysis at the London think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies, also tweeted the clip and identified the airfield as the Kandahar Airport.
The Drive noted that while the US-made helicopter was not seen leaving the ground, it could at least be seen as yet another propaganda effort by the extremists, who seized a huge treasure trove of US weapons. worth billions after overthrowing the government in August. 14.
It is not known exactly how many former Afghan military planes are under Taliban control, although Reuters reported last week that they seized around 40 fixed-wing planes and helicopters.
Experts and observers have identified what appeared to be at least four Black Hawks under Taliban control, including two at Kandahar Airfield, the site of a major air base that the United States handed over to the Afghan government today. ‘hui disappeared, reported The Drive.
Earlier this week, Taliban fighters were pictured showing their new uniforms and gear from US special forces stocks supplied to the Afghan military.
Members of the so-called Badri 313 Brigade were featured in the ISIS-style propaganda footage dressed in what appears to be US military attire, ditching their traditional turbans for the distinctive Special Forces helmets with frames for vision glasses nocturnal.
Meanwhile, a government watch group said the US military was leaving behind 75,000 vehicles, 600,000 weapons and 208 planes in Afghanistan, according to the Daily Wire.
“We have made the Taliban a major US arms dealer for the next decade,” said Adam Andrzejewski, CEO of Open the Books, a US-based nonprofit group that studies government spending, said reported the media.
“They now control 75,000 military vehicles. That’s about 50,000 tactical vehicles, 20,000 Humvees, they control about 1,000 mine resistant vehicles and even about 150 armored personnel carriers, ”he added.
Andrzejewski said the United States has spent $ 83 billion on Afghan security forces through training and equipment since 2001.
“We have built a pretty incredible war chest for them and now everything is in the hands of the Taliban,” he said. “We know that last month, up to July, seven new helicopters were delivered to the capital Kabul.”
The CEO said that while his group was able to count the equipment left behind, the numbers are incomplete.
“We found a federal audit that detailed up to $ 200 million worth of drones that had gone missing,” Andrzejewski said, the Daily Wire reported. “We don’t know where 600,000 guns are in the country. “
According to reports, the United States supplied the Afghan military with around $ 28 billion in weapons between 2002 and 2017, including seven brand-new helicopters delivered to Kabul just a month ago.
The war chest also included the supply of 600,000 infantry weapons – including M16 assault rifles – as well as 162,000 pieces of communications equipment and 16,000 night vision goggles.
In just two years, from 2017 to 2019, the United States donated 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers, The Hill reported, citing a report from the last year of the Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan.
“Anything that has not been destroyed now belongs to the Taliban,” a US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Videos have already captured Taliban fighters triumphantly opening crates of seized weapons, including American-made M4 rifles and M16 rifles, The Hill reported. They have also been spotted with American Humvees.
On Wednesday, more than two dozen Republican senators demanded a “full account” of what was seized – and what plans are in place to recover it.
“It is unacceptable that high-tech military equipment paid for by American taxpayers has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies,” the 25 senators told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
[ad_2]
Source link