Just $5 a month.Īccording to a top Pentagon logistics specialist, there is no clear record of the quantity and quality of military equipment left behind. According to Joshua Reno, author of “ Military Waste: The Unexpected Consequences of Permanent War Readiness ,” recirculating weapons in the places a military force leaves when the battle is over will augment the risks that small arms or other weapons are going to fuel and intensify civil war or instability.Įnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Nevertheless, lack of time and unreasonable expectations on the survivability of the Afghan security forces caught the Pentagon by surprise. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. Still, that option creates toxic legacies that would affect the local population for a long time, as happened in Iraq. Blowing up in situ large quantities of war materiel is cheaper than shipping it out of Afghanistan. Much was removed anyway, and much handed over to Afghan government forces. neither an easy nor an economical endeavor. left behind during its withdrawal or that which was in the hands of the Afghan forces that melted so quickly away as the Taliban advanced.Īs a landlocked country, Afghanistan makes moving military materiel back to the U.S. Another and more important question needs an answer: The fate of the extensive military materiel that the U.S. The answer to the question concerning the source of these small arms is straightforward: war looting. Most of the Taliban in Kabul’s street seems to prefer American M4 carbines and M16 rifles with their many gadgets attached, from expensive optics to laser sights and flashlights, an uncommon picture in contrast to just a few weeks earlier. Few Taliban appearing now carry the signature weapon of insurgent fighters, the AK-47, and its countless variants from the handmade Pakistani versions to the updated Russian AK-19. In the images of the Taliban fighters flooding the streets of Kabul, one detail attracts attention: the lack of the ubiquitous Kalashnikov. It is one thing to capture weapons and other materiel it is another to be given the enemy’s gear on a silver platter. The American Army could not have succeeded against King George III without seizing the king’s food and armaments. Capturing the enemy’s weapons has been a standard guerrilla tactic for centuries.
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