Taliban Stockpiling U.S. Weapons That Include Helicopters, Guns, And Trucks

Source USNWR  

WSJ: Taliban Seize U.S. Weapons in Afghanistan, Stockpiling Helicopters, Guns and Trucks  

After collapse of Afghanistan’s U.S.-supported military, grenade launchers, missiles and aircraft are now wielded by militants  

Afghanistan’s military has laid down its weapons, and the Taliban have wasted little time in collecting them, raising concerns about how easily troves of U.S.-made arms, military aircraft and armored vehicles have fallen into enemy hands and the new capabilities they bring. 

Scores of videos have emerged of Taliban fighters rejoicing near abandoned American helicopters, carrying U.S.-supplied M24 sniper rifles and M18 assault weapons, stacking other small arms and materiel in unending piles and driving Humvees and other U.S.-made military trucks. 

The Taliban have seized airplanes, tanks and artillery from Afghan outposts and from evacuating U.S. personnel, revealing one of the heavier costs of a U.S. troop withdrawal amid a collapse of Afghanistan’s government and army. 

“We obviously don’t want to see our equipment in the hands of those who would act against our interests, or the interests of the Afghan people,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a press briefing this week. 

The U.S. sent nearly 600,000 small arms, 76,000 vehicles and 208 airplanes to Afghanistan’s military and police from 2003 to 2016, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report, one of the few such compilations. The most recent quarterly report of the U.S.-led military coalition documented deliveries of 174 Humvees, nearly three million rounds of ammunition, and nearly 100,000 2.75-inch rockets during the period.  

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WNU Editor: Tens of billions of US arms in the hands of the Taliban. Talk about the ultimate an arms bazaar for jihadists .... U.S.-made weapons seized by Taliban could lead to regional arms bazaar (Politico).  

Update: The U.S. is not going to bomb these targets .... US Still Considering Bombing Military Equipment, Especially Aircraft, Left In Afghanistan (Zero Hedge).