Taliban now ‘world’s most heavily armed terror group’ after seizing ‘motherload of US tanks, humvees and weapons
TALIBAN fighters surged across Afghanistan in a matter of weeks plundering stocks of US weapons and vehicles- earning themselves the title of the world's most heavily armed terror group.
With an estimated 85,000 soldiers, the Taliban managed to break the back of the much larger 300,000-strong Afghan Army as many troops appeared to simply lay down their arms.
And with each seized barracks and plundered military depot, the Taliban's arsenal only grew as they obtained new toys abandoned by the surrendering Afghans.
Many of these weapons and vehicles are US military grade having been handed over by Washington as part of the $83billion (£60million) spent trying to prop up Afghanistan's armed forces.
Pictures from the fall of the Kabul and during the Taliban's surge from town-to-town in the weeks prior show the rag-tag band of fighters seizing weapons and trucks that would make some nations' jealous.
Taliban militants paraded into Kabul waving their distinctive white flags from atop US-made Humvees and wielding American assault rifles - deepening the embarrassment faced by The White House.
Pictures also showed the fighters piling stolen body armour taken from Afghan soldiers and wearing pilfered helmets complete with head cameras.
And one video shows dozens of Humvees held in a compound now controlled by the TalibanPolitical commentator Adam Schwarz tweeted: "The Taliban are set to become the best armed Islamic fundamentalist group in the world when they inherit all the advanced US military equipment of the Afghan Army."
US defence officials have described the Taliban's new arsenal of weapons as "enormous", reports The Associated Press.
It is believed while the Afghan Army were well armed, the sudden departure of the US and the lack of leadership left them too demoralised to bother fighting - so they rolled over to the Taliban.
It comes as...
- Joe Biden said he "stands squarely behind" his decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan
- Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab admitted Nato allies were surprised by the "pace and scale" of the Taliban takeover
- The SAS are to join a "Dunkirk-style" rescue mission to save 6,000 Brits from Kabul airport
- The UK Ambassador will stay "for as long as possible" to help the evacuation
- A British student who went on holiday to Kabul says he has been safely evacuated
Pictures published throughout the Taliban's rampage have shown them scooping huge hauls of US-made guns - some of which their fighters can be seen carrying as they entered Kabul.
Ditching the iconic terrorists' favourite, the AK-47, some fighters can be seen carrying M16 and M4 rifles or M249 and M240 machine guns.
Some propaganda images released by the Taliban show their fighters wielding the fearsome Scar-H, a weapon commonly used by the SAS and Royal Marines.
🔵 Read our Afghanistan live blog for the latest updates
And while pick-up trucks, sedans and motorbikes remain the Taliban's favoured mode of transportation, they have got their mitts on hundreds - if not thousands - of US military vehicles.
Humvees have become a common sight being driven by the militant after being taken from the Afghan Army or being left behind the US.
Also seen are the MRAP MaxxPro trucks which are designed to withstand mine blasts - worth around $500,000 - and have a turret mounted machine gun.
Taliban thugs have also got their hands on M1117s, tank-like armoured vehicles which are designed to survive RPG blasts and are armed with a grenade launcher along with a 50 calibre.
Looking to the skies, the Taliban have also got their hands on left behind US drones and helicopters - though its unclear if they have the know-how to actually use them.
Taliban fighters were seen posed with US-made Blackhawks and Cayuse Warrior choppers as they seized Kanadahar airfield, and other images have show militants with Boeing-made ScanEagle drones.
Ammunition, grenades, satellite photos and other items have also been picked up as fighters raided shipping crates marked "Property of the USA Government".
The US forces sudden pull back saw them take their most expensive tech, but leave behind much else during the sudden withdrawal ordered by Biden.
Raffaello Pantucci, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the hauls will allow the Taliban to "strengthen its authority" as it holds Afghanistan.
"It is incredibly serious. It is clearly going to be a massive boon to them," he told AFP.
Jason Amerine, who led US special forces in overthrowing the Taliban in 2001, said: "The US equipped the [Afghan Army] with the assumption that weapons and materiel might fall into Taliban hands.
"The current crisis was a worst-case scenario considered when making procurement decisions."
Afghanistan's armed forces are believed to have been blighted with corruption and embezzlement, with some officers cooking the books by creating "ghost soldiers".
These soldiers inflated their numbers and the fake troopers' salaries - paid for the Pentagon - were siphoned off to line corrupt officials' pockets.
And the $83billion the US is estimated to have forked out funding, equipping and training the Afghan Army is just a fraction of the $1trillion spent fighting the war since 2001.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said: "Money can’t buy will. You cannot purchase leadership.”
And the Pentagon has admitted it has no plans to keep more American weapons and vehicles out of Taliban hands.
President Biden was bullish yesterday as he tried to shake off any criticism over the troop pull out which heralded Afghanistan's collapse.
The plan was set in motion by his predecessor Donald Trump who signed a peace deal with the Taliban, but Biden's rapid and seemingly ill-manged execution has been widely criticised .
He admitted being taken by surprise by the speed of the Afghan government’s collapse - but piled blame of the country's leadership.
Biden said: “The truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated.
"So what's happened? Afghanistan political leaders gave up and fled the country."
The withdrawal from the country has been widely compared to the US evacuation of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.
Timeline of Taliban victory
THE Taliban surged to victory quicker than anyone expected...
April 14 - President Joe Biden announces US troops will withdraw from Afghanistan starting on May 1 and ending on September 11.
May 4 - Taliban fighters launch a major offensive on Afghan forces in southern Helmand and at least six other provinces.
June 7 - Government officials say fighting is raging in 26 of the country's 34 provinces.
June 22 - Taliban fighters launch a series of attacks in the north of the country, far from their traditional strongholds in the south.
July 2 - American troops quietly pull out of their main military base in Afghanistan - Bagram Air Base, ending US involvement in the war.
July 21 - Taliban insurgents control about a half of the country's districts, according to the senior US general, underlining the scale and speed of their advance.
July 25 - US vows to continue to support Afghan troops "in the coming weeks" with intensified airstrikes to help them counter Taliban attacks.
July 26 - The United Nations says nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or wounded in May and June in escalating violence, the highest number for those months since records started in 2009.
August 6 - Zaranj in the south of the country becomes the first provincial capital to fall to the Taliban in years and many more the ensuing days, including the prized city of Kunduz in the north.
August 13 - Four more provincial capitals fall in a day, including Kandahar, the country's second city and spiritual home of the Taliban. In the west, another key city, Herat, is overrun.
August 14 - The Taliban take the major northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and, with little resistance, Pul-e-Alam, capital of Logar province just 40 miles south of Kabul.
August 15 - The Taliban take the key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, effectively surrounding Kabul.
August 16 - The world watches on as the West desperately tries to evacuate its citizens as the Taliban seize power in Afghanistan.
Dawn rose over an Afghanistan today in total control of the Taliban, with reports already emerging of the fighters hunting for any Western allies and bringing in new repressive laws against women.
Shocking scenes yesterday saw thousands of Afghans try to flee Kabul as they desperately clung to a US Air Force plane's landing gear - with some falling to their deaths.
On Sunday Boris Johnson blamed the US for the advancement of the Taliban in Afghanistan claiming President Biden "accelerated" their control.
The Prime Minister said the "difficult" situation had been exacerbated by the President's decision to withdraw troops from the war-torn country.
In the wake of a Cobra meeting on Sunday afternoon, Mr Johnson said it was "fair to say the US decision to pull out has accelerated things, but this has in many ways been a chronicle of an event foretold."
He urged the West to come together to stop Afghanistan again becoming a "breeding ground for terrorism" after the Defence Select Committee chairman warned of terrorist attacks on the West "on the scale of 9/11."
And meanwhile, Dominic Raab has revealed some 2,000 Brits remain trapped in Afghanistan as a mission has been launched to rescue them.
No comments: