Afghanistan: US military equipment may be seized by Taliban after American troops withdraw

As the United States troops prepared for the total pullout from war-torn Afghanistan on Biden’s September 11 deadline after 20 years of conflict, concerns have risen over tons of military armaments and advanced equipment left behind in nearby Bagram Air Base, the largest remaining military outpost that might arm the Taliban rebels. As a security measure, the US forces will not transport the military equipment back to the States or hand it to the Afghan military. But instead, the personnel smashed and destroyed shards of tanks, artillery, and other arms into metal scraps at sprawling Baba Mir’s sprawling scrapyard. 

Although, military officials told on-ground reporters that it was impossible to trash every single of the $7 billion worth, about 20 percent of US military gear and armament left behind by the fledging troops, leaving the Pentagon in a quandary, according to classified reports. Selling all-terrain army vehicles, and weaponry to the Afghan government or allied nations from the war zone may be more complicated and lengthy, and therefore the American armed forces are now dismantling the weaponry to deter the risk of it falling into the hands of Afghan militants or the terrorist organizations that can flare instability in the region as thousand US and NATO troops head for the door. 

As Afghan civilians infuriate after the US soldiers abandoning the ally in the terror-prone region, the scrapyard owners are, in turn, aggravated about the piles of waste that could fetch profits had it been sold as intact military equipment. But the US troops, now packing up across the military bases in Afghanistan have a different worry. 

Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific affairs, David Helvey said that military leaders were working to prevent logistics breakdowns with the Afghan security forces." We're going to continue to maintain contact with our partners to determine what we can from outside the country, and maintain good situational awareness of their current capabilities," he said. "And we're looking at any areas where they may be challenged and we may be able to help them."

 

In the defense base northwest of the capital of Kabul, the US forces have been taking stock of military equipment, loading the maximum into the US Air Force C-17 to ferry it back to the United States through Pakistan via Central Asia. ABC reports that as many as 60 C-17s have been flown out of Afghanistan with arms, as of last week. Although, the military troops have remained confidential about the sensitive equipment being left behind, and what is being shipped back home. 

"We will be transferring facilities, some vehicles, and other equipment that the Afghan national defense forces can utilize in their ongoing efforts to secure the country," Brig Gen Matthew Trollinger, Deputy Director of politico-military affairs for the Joint Staff, told Senate lawmakers during a hearing on Afghanistan.

"We will be retrograding equipment that we're able to bring back to bases and stations in the continental United States as well as elsewhere, and then we'll be disposing of equipment that essentially is either obsolete, inoperable, or legally we're not able to transfer to Afghanistan,” he added. 

[Afghanistan US military scrap pile. Copyright: The Associated Press.]

[Baba Mir's scrapyard outside Bagram Air Base. Copyright: The Associated Press.]

1,300 military equipment destroyed

Officials on condition of anonymity told the Broadcasting corp. that some of the US Army helicopters, military vehicles, weapons, and ammunition, will be handed over to Afghanistan’s National Defense and Security Forces. Some military bases will be turned in, including the New Antonik base in Helmand province, owing to the growing Taliban threat with terror factions occupying nearly 80 percent of the region.

As many as 1,300 military equipment has been destroyed, the unidentified defense personnel informed, of this, 387 million pounds (176 million kilograms) of scrap has already been sold to the Afghan government for $46.5 million, a spokeswoman for the military’s Defense Logistics Agency, had said. US Central Command, earlier this week,  said that the drawdown had completed between 13 percent and 20 percent. 

[US flag is lowered as American and Afghan soldiers attend a handover ceremony from the U.S. Army to the Afghan National Army, at Camp Anthonic, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Credit: AP/Afghan Ministry of Defense Press Office]