Afghanistan
The Taliban captured US helicopters and firearms – the service dogs took the soldiers away
—
After the collapse of the regular armed forces and the withdrawal of the US army, the Taliban have large amounts of military equipment – including helicopters and airplanes. Estimates of the size of the arsenal currently in circulation should, however, be treated with caution.
—
The Kabul airport is now guarded by Taliban fighters who can fall back on military equipment from Western sources.
–
The little film made the rounds on the short message service Twitter, as soon as the news of the complete withdrawal of the American armed forces from Afghanistan had spread on Monday. It shows a “Black Hawk” helicopter (UH-60), manufactured by a subsidiary of the US armaments giant Lockheed Martin, which is doing a lap over the roofs of the city of Kandahar – with a person in tow. Allegedly, said an Afghan journalist, this was not an act of retaliation, but an attempt to hoist the Taliban flag on a building.
Afghan pilot flying this is someone I have known over the years. He was trained in the US and UAE, he confirmed to me that he flew the Blackhawk helicopter. Taliban fighter seen here was trying to install Taliban flag from air but it didn’t work in the end. https://t.co/wnF8ep1zEl
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 31, 2021
–
It cannot be determined whether this is the truth. But the little film clearly shows that the new rulers of Afghanistan are in possession of the most modern war tools. The Taliban not only captured planes or helicopters belonging to the regular Afghan armed forces. They were also able to snatch combat equipment that the US forces had to leave behind at Kabul airport when they withdrew. For example, photos of a parking lot on which dozens of all-terrain “Humvees” could be seen circulated on Twitter on Tuesday. Taliban fighters also paraded in American uniforms and with American weapons.
Well, that’s another Humvee park that fell to TB. I’m not even going to bother counting. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/3cVjfBNDsq
– FJ (@Natsecjeff) August 31, 2021
–
Alone: How large are the quantities of heavy military equipment that have fallen into the hands of the new Taliban army can only be speculated about so far. The only thing that is clear is that a number that has also been offered by the American ex-President Donald Trump in the last few days does not correspond to the truth. It is not true that the Taliban now have $ 88 billion worth of military equipment.
Because this number is the total of all American investments in the regular Afghan troops since 2002. As the military expert Jonathan Schroden explained on Twitter, a large part of this money went into fuel and maintenance; In addition, a not inconsiderable amount of dollars was lost in view of the rampant corruption in Afghanistan.
Schroden, who works for the CNA think tank in Washington, also thinks little of info graphics that give an overview of the Taliban’s alleged arsenal. He criticized a compilation of the British Times as incorrect.
A mind-blowing graphic in today’s Times on what $85bn worth of lost equipment means in practice for the Taliban: pic.twitter.com/GDcuNQbb6P
— Will Brown (@_Will_Brown) August 29, 2021
–
The analyst pointed out that, according to official American sources, not all of these war machines were operational. There are also contemporary reports that suggest that Afghan pilots ran away shortly before the fall of Kabul. Dozens of aircraft belonging to the former Afghan Air Force are said to be in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. S.chroden refers to an independent inventory of two Dutchmen: Accordingly, of the 76 helicopters of American origin that are now in the possession of the Taliban Air Force, only 14 are operational.
The Pentagon, in turn, stressed on Monday that the armed forces had “demilitarized” the military equipment they had to leave behind in Kabul – as is the technical term in the Pentagon. Maj. Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie said 70 MRAP military vehicles and 27 Humvees had been made unusable. “You will never be driven again,” McKenzie said. The American armed forces had also put the 73 aircraft out of service that were still on the premises of Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Another rumor that circulated Tuesday was refuted by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Accordingly, it is not true, said Kirby, that the American forces had left their service dogs in Afghanistan. A local animal shelter was responsible for the dog boxes that were shown in the latest pictures from Kabul, said Kirby.
‘Not a great day for America’s service dogs’: US military abandoned dozens of dogs @USEmbassyKabul #SaveK-9 #ServiceDogs #Acceptance #Afghanistan #K-9s #PTSD #k-9Soldiers
via https://t.co/hrQuIhLSgQ https://t.co/9VTnPeovUM— mlleorange (@CakeFilms) August 31, 2021
–
–
