Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks

| August 19, 2021

Reuters is reporting on the true scale of what it is the Taliban has seized from the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, and our forces in Afghanistan. From Reuters;

About a month ago, Afghanistan’s ministry of defense posted on social media photographs of seven brand new helicopters arriving in Kabul delivered by the United States.

“They’ll continue to see a steady drumbeat of that kind of support, going forward,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters a few days later at the Pentagon.

In a matter of weeks, however, the Taliban had seized most of the country, as well as any weapons and equipment left behind by fleeing Afghan forces.

Video showed the advancing insurgents inspecting long lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones.

“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” one U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Current and former U.S. officials say there is concern those weapons could be used to kill civilians, be seized by other militant groups such as Islamic State to attack U.S.-interests in the region, or even potentially be handed over to adversaries including China and Russia.

Another official said that while there are no definitive numbers yet, the current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones.

“We have already seen Taliban fighters armed with U.S.-made weapons they seized from the Afghan forces. This poses a significant threat to the United States and our allies,” Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters in an email.

The speed with which the Taliban swept across Afghanistan is reminiscent of Islamic State militants taking weapons from U.S.-supplied Iraqi forces who offered little resistance in 2014.

Between 2002 and 2017, the United States gave the Afghan military an estimated $28 billion in weaponry, including guns, rockets, night-vision goggles and even small drones for intelligence gathering.

But aircraft like the Blackhawk helicopters have been the most visible sign of U.S. military assistance, and were supposed to be the Afghan military’ biggest advantage over the Taliban.

Between 2003 and 2016 the United States provided Afghan forces with 208 aircraft, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

In the last week, many of those aircraft were most useful for Afghan pilots to escape the Taliban.

One of the U.S. officials said that between 40 and 50 aircraft had been flown to Uzbekistan by Afghan pilots seeking refuge. Even before taking power in Kabul over the weekend, the Taliban had started a campaign of assassinating pilots.

Some planes were in the United States for maintenance and will stay. Those en route to Afghan forces will instead be used by the U.S. military to help in the evacuation from Kabul.

Current and former officials say that while they are concerned about the Taliban having access to the helicopters, the aircraft require frequent maintenance and many are complicated to fly without extensive training.

“Ironically, the fact that our equipment breaks down so often is a life-saver here,” a third official said.

You see, guys. It’s not so bad that we gave the enemy billions of dollars worth of top shelf military weaponry (again) because it’s American-made crap built by the lowest bidder. If the Iranians can keep their F-14s in the sky after more than 40 years of arms and spare parts embargoes, then the Taliban (with backing from China, Pakistan, or Iran) could foreseeably keep these Black Hawks and attack helicopters (I think we sent them MH-6 Little Birds or OH-6 Loaches). We also helped the Afghans source Soviet/Russian-made aircraft they were familiar with operating and maintaining (such as the Mi-17 helicopter).

Category: "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Afghanistan, Taliban

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Mike B USAF Retired

All I can say is…..What a total shit storm!

I’m sure I have more to say, but it’ll come out in an incoherent jumble right now!

Jay

Mike,

Concur. I’m just waiting for the inevitable KIA of Marines/Soldiers with our own fucking gear. Every time I’ve seen Joe this week, B.O.’s words echo in my head: “Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck thing’s up.”

ninja

Report of Survey…

Wonder if the ANA had a Property Book Officer?

(Me Speaketh Claw Language).

Reading the article reminds me of my time at Bagram in the early 2001-2002 timeframe. Always amazed me that when I took numerous road trips to Kabul, I happened to noticed “Vender” stands outside the Bagram gate.

The “Vender” was selling MREs..USA MREs…Which, BTW, was what I had to consume alot as well as “Mystery Meat” or “Mystery Food” from mermite cans or at a tented Messhall sponsered by a Logistical Unit from the XVIII Corps..(They did the best they could, bless their hearts…)

😎😉

SFC D

I think I ate T-RAT spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast and dinner the first 3 weeks I was in Bagram, early 2002. Bagram was pretty damn sparse in those days.

Slow Joe

Obviously I got there late, because the food in Bagram was excellent. Far better than the “healthy” meals they serve in CONUS chowhalls.

timactual

” a Property Book Officer?”

Yep. I think I heard he won a National Book Award for “best fiction”.

thebesig

Here, I fixed the meme for you. :mrgreen: Iraq was on track to seeing helicopters evacuating people from the embassy in Baghdad, but ISIS’s advance was stopped. They took a big chuck of my brigade AO from when I was deployed there, and were stopped right before where my platoon’s patrol base was at. They didn’t take that part of the AO, or the southern part of our AO. 😀

Iraq was spared the ultimate fate that Vietnam, and now Afghanistan, experienced.

Slow Joe

By the end of next year we’ll be pulling out of Iraq, give or take a few months depending on how high is the political cost to the current a administration.

Iraq will become a Iranian satellite.

Oh wait…

KoB

“…handed over to adversaries…” You think? Duh huh. Probably already have done so.

Get our people out and send in a few high level airstrikes to destroy as much of that stuff as we can. Wonder how many of those Afghan pilots packed their aircraft with family before they beat feet? I’m thinking, not too many.

5JC

I don’t think the Iranian F14s are still flying. But flying 25% of the wing to Uzbekistan showed more predictive analysis than all of the Biden Administration.

Figure at best 50% of remaining air craft are even flying. Iran is a bit more advanced in industrial base and technology than Afghanistan. There is no way the Talban will be able to keep anything flying for more than a couple of years.

A Proud Infidel ®™️

I don’t even give them six months!

Anonymous

Hell, IRIAF F-4s were spotted dropped iron bombs on ISIS about then, too.

Hack Stone

Those aircraft will be sitting idle because the Taliban maintenance crews will be busy attending mandatory Critical Race Theory Training. You can’t succeed in combat if you don’t know that diversity is our strength.

5JC

I think their critical race theory may be different than ours. Not that they don’t have one, just different.

Sapper3307

Roh-Dog

Was just about to post the same. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a hot minute.

Dublin

Well, at least now if the US ever goes back into Afghanistan there will be some targets worth hitting.

Sapper3307

Bomb them forward ,,to the Stone Age again.

Anonymous

ANA rifles… cheap– never fired, dropped once!

samir sardana

THE AMERICANS HAVE EXECUTED A ALMOST NIL COST EXIT ! The US exit plan had no other better option They had to evac at the stroke of midnight.If they had quit before that,the Taliban Tsunami would have come,much sooner.The aim was to surprise – and it sent a clear signal to Ghani,that it was EOD ! Securing Bagram would have required several more US soldiers vs Kabul airport.The US aim was to save the human life of the soldiers – equipments can be manufactured again and again ! Choosing the funnel of the Kabul airport,was also a good option and the TINA option.The aim was to create a stampede and chaos,with women and babies under the light of the CNN crew ! The US evacd 100000 civilians from Kabul ! Who are these people ? They were CIA,Int,Spies,US allies and moles,Blackwater and NATO Merecenaries ! So for the US,it was Mission accomplished ! There is 1 more reason to chose Kabul.If Taliban had shot down an aircraft in Kabul airport – it would close the airport to civilian and aid flights – which would be a PR and Logistics disaster, for Taliban.Bagram was always a fair target ! If you have multiple USAF landings and takeoff in Bagram,statistical probability of a hit by ISIS or Taliban – would be much higher ! Also the stampede drama,could not be played out at Bagram – as it is not a funnel ! Even leaving behind the equipment,is a sound option ! The aim of the US was to leave the Taliban,with tech and equip to run a united nation – so that there are NO safe zones,for Daesh and Qaeda ! That is Y the US is not supporting Masood, in Panjshir ! But if the Panjshir fighters hold out – and then spread the resistance – then the US might change its stand ! As of now,they are watching the Taliban actions – ONLY ON QAEDA AND DAESH ! Panjshir is well stocked,for many months ! Although Pakistan SSG and PAF and drones are in Panjshir – the US and its… Read more »

OWB

Thanks for the lesson on the use of ” ! ” That was really quite special.

26Limabeans

Thanks. It all makes perfect sense now.

rgr769

He is a dedicated Taliban PR man. Likely posting from an internet cafe in Kabul or Waziristan. One thing is for certain, he is a muzzie.

SFC D

I’m not sure what I just read, but it makes me want to start drinking.