President Joe Biden's administration has once again denied leaving any weapons in Afghanistan during the United States Armed Forces&...
President Joe Biden's administration has once again denied leaving any weapons in Afghanistan during the United States Armed Forces' exceptionally chaotic withdrawal from the country in August 2021.
This latest denial comes from U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications and retired Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, who made the comments on Tuesday, Dec. 19.
"This is a fallacy, this is a farce," said Kirby during a press conference at the White House. "What we did, over the course of our 20 years in Afghanistan, of course, with congressional approval and consultations, was arm and help equip the Afghan national security forces."
In the face of advances by the Taliban in August 2021 in the middle of U.S. troop withdrawal, many Afghan National Army troops decided to lay down their arms instead of fight against the Taliban.
"The 'arms' that you're talking about, and again, I can't verify these particular reports, belonged to the Afghan national security forces," claimed Kirby. "That's what was left behind. Not that the United States just walked away and abandoned a bunch of weapons in a pile in Afghanistan. That's simply not historically accurate."
Kirby's claim contradicts the statements by other defense officials and even by troops who were on the ground in Afghanistan during the withdrawal.
Taliban smuggling U.S. weapons into Pakistan
Kirby's denial came just days after Pakistan urged the United Nations to investigate how the Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), acquired advanced weapons. These weapons were recently used in an attack against Pakistani soldiers, leaving 23 of them dead.
Top Pakistani officials, including caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, have said that U.S. military equipment left behind during the withdrawal from Afghanistan has made its way through the border and into the hands of the Pakistani Taliban. This has, over the past few months, emboldened the group to intensify its attacks against Pakistani military and security forces.
Speaking at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council's U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday, Dec. 13, Pakistani Ambassador to the U.N. Munir Akram said the Pakistani Taliban and its allies – including the Afghan Taliban – were responsible for carrying out a series of very organized cross-border attacks on Pakistan in recent weeks. They were conducting these raids using weapons originating from the stock left behind by U.S. forces and its allies in Afghanistan.
"These attacks have turned more lethal and sophisticated, as the TTP terrorists have procured and are now using advanced military equipment," said Akram. "The question is: How did the TTP, a listed terrorist organization, secure these weapons?"
Akram called on the Security Council to conduct a "thorough investigation" to figure out how these weapons got into the hands of the TTP and to identify ways of taking them back.
In an interview several months ago, Kakar noted that U.S. equipment was "emerging as a new challenge" for Islamabad, as it has exceptionally enhanced the fighting capabilities of the Pakistani Taliban. The military gear in question ranges from everything from new, more modern firearms to night vision goggles.
The Afghan Taliban has bragged about how it had seized massive caches of modern U.S. military equipment, including guns, ammunition and even vehicles like helicopters.
There is no definite information on how much U.S. equipment was left behind – and with the White House continuing to deny that it left behind equipment, there likely won't be a proper inventory for some time. Other U.S. defense officials have confirmed that the value of the military equipment left behind is "significant."
Investigative journalist Paul E. Sperry reported earlier this year that, according to the latest report by the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General, the Biden administration left behind 78 aircraft worth $923.3 million, over 9,500 air-to-ground munitions worth $6.54 million, over 40,000 military vehicles, more than 300,000 firearms and nearly all support equipment like night vision, surveillance, communications and biometrics gear.
A separate report by CNN suggests that around $7 billion worth of military equipment transferred to the Afghan government over 16 years was left behind. Fox News suggests that the value of the military equipment is closer to $85 billion.
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