(AmericanProsperity.com) – The US military has some of the world’s most advanced and expensive equipment. After Biden’s botched withdrawal of US forces in Afghanistan, billions of dollars worth of equipment fell into Taliban hands. Now, the organization is openly flaunting its new toys.
Taliban holds military parade in Afghanistan's second largest city of Kandahar to inaugurate its new army pic.twitter.com/KqVcaLuABb
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To celebrate the establishment of the new “Islamic Emirate Army,” the Taliban held a convoy in one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, Kandahar. The parade included several pieces of equipment, such as helicopters and armored personnel vehicles, that the United States left behind during its chaotic withdrawal. Driving the gear down the main road in Kandahar, the convoy played religious music on loudspeakers passing civilians and spectators.
According to a Forbes report, the United States furnished the Afghan military with 208 aircraft and 75,898 vehicles between 2003 and 2016. Additional resources, including nearly 600,000 firearms, followed. Most of them are now in enemy hands.
Officials haven’t been entirely transparent about the totals, but analysts say the losses include 42,604 tactical vehicles, which cost taxpayers $65,500-$69,400 per unit, and 22,174 Humvees, each averaging $96,466. Among other lost assets are 110 helicopters, which cost about $21-$37 million a pop, 358,530 rifles, which each cost between $749 and $10,000, and drones totaling $174 million.
Republican lawmakers came together after the Afghanistan withdrawal to demand that Secretary of Defense Llyod Austin provide information on what equipment remained in Afghanistan. One part of the letter questioned why equipment paid for by American taxpayers managed to fall into the Taliban’s hands in the first place. They say officials should have prioritized removing it during the withdrawal.
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