
Image source: Twitter/@stillgray video screenshot
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to President Joe Biden, admitted Tuesday that "a fair amount" of United States military weapons fell into the hands of Taliban terrorists when they swiftly took control of Afghanistan.
But what, quantitatively speaking, is a "fair amount"? New videos suggest that Sullivan may have been understating just how many American arms the Taliban seized.
With the American military presence now limited to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, billions of dollars' worth of military arms were left behind as American forces were ordered to leave their installations and Afghan security forces, which were armed in part by American tax dollars, collapsed.
Videos circulating on social media show Taliban forces seizing thousands of firearms and ammunition.
One video showed thousands of various rifles, a seemingly endless number; body armor; and other assorted military equipment — all now in the hands of Taliban terrorists.
In an unknown location in Afghanistan, the Taliban seized a large cache of M4 carbines, LMGs, PVS-7D, night vision goggles, and assorted U.S. military equipment.pic.twitter.com/0jizGD8oHQ— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com) 1629275497
Another video showed Taliban terrorists raiding a weapons depot, putting hundreds of rifles into the back of a truck.
The Taliban looted a massive cache of U.S. weapons from a deserted weapons depot on the way to Kabul.pic.twitter.com/OnAgpdtbCO— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com) 1629275588
Other videos showed:
In the city of Mazar-e Sharif, the Taliban captured and unboxed numerous U.S. weapons, armored vehicles, body armor, and assorted equipment.pic.twitter.com/MQ8e3RfagL— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com) 1629275418
A large cache of U.S. weapons was seized at a weapons depot in Herat by the Taliban.pic.twitter.com/4XknI20BKe— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com) 1629275321
As it has already been reported, Taliban terrorists have also seized U.S. drones and military vehicles.
The #Taliban not only seized appr. a hundred US humvees and (MaxxPro) MRAPs at Kunduz airport, but also several US ScanEagle drones.\nBillions of US tax payer $ going to Islamist extremists, thanks to the administration's hasty withdrawal without a peace deal or follow up mission.pic.twitter.com/Fb5MTpdLKK— Julian R\u00f6pcke (@Julian R\u00f6pcke) 1628760607
The Washington Post detailed the Afghan government corruption that helped facilitate the Taliban's swift victory and also explains how so many American arms fell into the hands of terrorists.
From the Post:
The spectacular collapse of Afghanistan's military that allowed Taliban fighters to walk into the Afghan capital Sunday despite 20 years of training and billions of dollars in American aid began with a series of deals brokered in rural villages between the militant group and some of the Afghan government's lowest-ranking officials.
The deals, initially offered early last year, were often described by Afghan officials as cease-fires, but Taliban leaders were in fact offering money in exchange for government forces to hand over their weapons, according to an Afghan officer and a U.S. official.
Over the next year and a half, the meetings advanced to the district level and then rapidly on to provincial capitals, culminating in a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders by government forces, according to interviews with more than a dozen Afghan officers, police, special operations troops and other soldiers.
By all accounts, the amount of American military equipment seized by the Taliban cost billions of taxpayer dollars. Still, neither the Biden administration nor the military have given any indication that U.S. firepower will be recovered.
When asked by a reporter on Monday what steps the U.S. military was taking to recovery U.S. military assets, Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor said, "I don't have the answer to that question."