President Joe Biden’s failure in Afghanistan continues to haunt the United States, now by potentially assisting the army we’ve spent billions helping another army to defeat.
On Wednesday night, Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told Newsmax of a report that indicates Russian President Vladimir Putin is in negotiations with the Taliban to purchase the weapons the U.S. left behind when Biden ordered a sudden withdrawal.
The sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 not only left behind over $7 billion in military equipment and weapons, but American personnel as well. Russia is in need of this equipment for its own army as it continues to wage war with Ukraine.
As Newsmax reported, the deal allegedly includes recognizing the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan:
The Telegram account of General SVR, widely reported to be run by a former Russian intelligence officer, said Tuesday that Putin is negotiating with the Taliban, which Russia, like the U.S., considers a terrorist group, by offering to recognize the government in exchange for weapons badly needed by the Russian army as it struggles to gain ground in the 11-month war against Ukraine.
“The Taliban possess weapons and equipment that are scarce for the Russian army at the front, including those seized after coming to power in Afghanistan,” the post read.
Banks, who was part of the effort to hand these arms to the Afghan army so they could fight back against the Taliban, sees this as another chapter in Biden’s big betrayal:
“This hits home very personally for me,” Banks, who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told “Rob Schmitt Tonight.” “I served in Afghanistan. I was part those efforts of turning military equipment over to the Afghan army, Afghan police so they could fight back against the Taliban. To find out all of those weapons … are going to end up in the hands of one of our biggest enemies at the same time as we’re spending tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight back against the same people we have given inadvertently our own weapons to, it just goes to show what a disaster Joe Biden has been as president, as commander in chief.
“The end of the Biden administration can’t come soon enough.”
We’ve given Ukraine around $100 billion to fund the war against Russia and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is already banging down Uncle Sam’s door to beg for more. Since only 30 percent of that money we sent them makes it to the front line, you have to wonder what’s happening with the other stacks of cash.
(READ: Ukraine Worship Isn’t Necessary for Russia’s Defeat)
But now our own weapons will be used to fight…our own weapons. The United States has effectively armed both sides of this war if the reports are true and come to fruition. This is Biden flushing billions and billions of our taxpayer dollars away with his incompetence, and it’s costing lives.
Banks is right. The end of the Biden administration can’t come soon enough. His incompetence is being utilized by our enemies in shameful ways.