Article by Zachary Cohen and Oren Liebermann, CNN
Rifles, Humvees and millions of rounds of ammo: Taliban celebrate their new American arsenal
)US national security officials are working to account for more than 20 years worth of weapons provided to the Afghan military as images of Taliban fighters brandishing American-made rifles and riding in abandoned Humvees are raising concerns about what else was left behind.
The
Taliban's newfound American arsenal is likely not limited to small
arms, as the group captured sizable stockpiles of weapons and vehicles
held at strongholds once controlled by US-backed forces, including
modern mine-resistant vehicles (MRAPs) and Humvees.
Initial
estimates suggest the Taliban may now also possess several Black Hawk
helicopters and other US-funded military aircraft, according to a
congressional source familiar with early assessments provided by defense
officials.
That
potentially includes roughly 20 A-29 Tucano attack planes, the source
said, noting there are some indications that only a small number of
aircraft were relocated from a base in Kandahar before it was overrun by
the Taliban.
"We
are also concerned that some may end up in the hands of others who
support the Taliban's cause," the congressional source told CNN. "My
biggest fear is that the sophisticated weaponry will be sold to our
adversaries and other non-state actors who intend to use it against us
and our allies."
It's unclear exactly how much equipment fell into Taliban hands during the collapse of the Afghan military,
and the US is unlikely to get a perfect and precise answer to that
question because there is no longer a US troop and intelligence presence
throughout the country, two defense officials told CNN.
"There's no exact accountability on what's left," one official said.
The Biden administration has faced a wave of criticism for failing to anticipate the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan and for the chaos unfolding at Kabul's airport as thousands of people attempt to flee the country.
Evacuation
operations remain the administration's primary focus but officials at
the Pentagon and the State Department are also beginning to take stock
of the American weapons that have fallen into Taliban hands, an effort
that sources tell CNN will likely take weeks or months due to the sheer
volume of arms provided to Afghan forces over the last two decades.
In
the interim, photographs and videos showing Taliban fighters carrying
US-supplied M4 carbines and M16 rifles are fueling questions about how
much American firepower the militant group now has at its disposal after
seizing military bases across Afghanistan.
While
US officials stress it is too early to provide details about specific
weapons and vehicles now under Taliban control, Pentagon officials have
already expressed concerns.
"When
it comes to U.S.-provided equipment that is still in Afghanistan and
may not be in the hands of ANSF [Afghan National Security Force], there
are several options that we have at our disposal to try to deal with
that problem set," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
"We
don't, obviously, want to see our equipment in the hands of those who
would act against our interest or the interest of the Afghan people, and
increase violence and insecurity inside Afghanistan," he added.
At
the moment, there are no plans for the US to take any action to destroy
the weapons by using airstrikes or other means, unless something poses a
direct threat to American troops at the airport, administration
officials told CNN.
The
destruction and removal of US equipment in Afghanistan started in
earnest shortly after the Trump administration signed the Doha agreement
in February 2020, and the military began reducing its footprint from
8,500 troops to 2,500. But it began, at a slower pace, even before that,
when in 2018 US force levels dropped below 14,000.
Between
2013 and 2016, the US gave Afghan forces more than 600,000 light
weapons, such as M16 and M4 rifles and nearly 80,000 vehicles, as well
as night vision goggles, radios and more, according to a 2017 Government
Accountability Office report. Even more recently, the US Defense
Department supplied the Afghan military with 7,000 machine guns, 4,700
Humvees and more than 20,000 grenades between 2017 and 2019, a report
from the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction found.
(The GAO and the special inspector general removed these reports at the
request of the State Department to protect any Afghans identified
within.)
In
the last two years alone, the US has also given the Afghan military
more than 18 million rounds of 7.62mm and .50-caliber ammunition,
according to a tally of the special inspector general's quarterly
reports.
Some
of this no doubt fell into Taliban hands, officials say. In the final
weeks of the withdrawal, a number of the strikes the US carried out in
Afghanistan were designed to destroy American equipment about to be
overrun by the Taliban, two officials said. The US didn't destroy all of
the equipment left for the Afghan military because it believed, until
it was too late, that Afghan forces would fight back.
However,
the fact that a significant number of weapons and vehicles were left
behind is a symptom of the broader lack of planning that went into the
withdrawal itself, according to Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal.
"There
were so many problems with the decision to withdraw, and as soon as the
decision was made by President Biden the military's singular focus was
to draw down," he told CNN.
"He
had no time to consider how to transition -- things like how the Afghan
would operate on its own and maintain its own aircraft. How the US
would transition weapons systems to the Afghans and to assess the
viability of the Afghan security forces," Roggio added.
Even
before Biden's withdrawal announcement earlier this year, US officials
acknowledged that even if the initial withdrawal deadline of May 1 were
extended, some equipment may have to be destroyed or handed off to the
Afghan military -- noting the latter carried an obvious risk of it being
seized by the Taliban, according to a source familiar with internal
planning discussions about Afghanistan at the time.
Striking
the right balance between leaving enough resources for Afghan forces to
continue fighting and mitigating the risk of weapons falling into the
wrong hands was always going to be a difficult challenge for the US
military, but it was compounded by the fact that the Biden
administration was seemingly caught off guard by the speed of the
Taliban advance -- something the President and top officials have
acknowledged publicly.
While
the Taliban can certainly make immediate use of US-made small arms and
armored vehicles, officials are skeptical they can turn American
aircraft into a viable fighting unit.
"Our
soldiers, sailors, and airmen spend months and months training to use
their aircraft," one official said. "The Taliban doesn't."
"The more sophisticated weaponry is a far greater challenge for the Taliban," Roggio told CNN.
"The
helicopters and planes are going to be very difficult for them to
maintain as viable over a long period of time. Less so the Russian
aircraft, which they have more experience with, and the Pakistanis could
help with those too," he added. "They may be able to use the aircraft
in the short and medium term but without some type of supply chain it
makes their life span relatively short."
"What
they really gained in combat power is the armored vehicles and the
light armored vehicles and even some tanks and artillery pieces," Roggio
said.
