(PresidentialWire.com)- In the Biden administration’s haste to bug out of Afghanistan, the Taliban was rewarded with a windfall in military equipment, vehicles, and small arms.
In addition to the hundreds of pick-up trucks, Humvees and armored vehicles, the Taliban also got their hands on over sixty-four thousand machine guns, more than 358,000 assault rifles, and over 126,000 handguns. On top of that, more than 16,000 night vision helmets were also left in their possession.
At the time, many warned that, in addition to providing the Taliban with more weaponry than they could possibly need, the US will also no doubt enrich arms dealers who will then be free to sell some of that equipment throughout the region, including to potential terrorists.
And that’s exactly what is happening.
According to the New York Times, arms dealers in Afghanistan are making out like bandits buying up the weapons seized by the Taliban and selling them.
The Times spoke with arms dealers in Kandahar who said that American pistols, ammunition, rifles, binoculars, and night vision goggles are on the market in the southern part of Afghanistan. Dozens of Afghans purchased weapons and equipment from the Taliban and have now set up gun shops to sell them to anyone with the cash to pay for it.
While Pentagon officials have said that all of the advanced weaponry was disabled before US troops withdrew from the country, there was still plenty to go around. And the reality is, most of the weapons and equipment the Taliban seized were used to train and assistant the Afghan security forces. This cache was not disabled or destroyed before US forces left. Why would it be? The Biden administration expected the Afghan forces to repel any Taliban threat because they were so well-armed.
Even Joe Biden, in his July 8 address on the Afghanistan withdrawal, boasted of the “advanced weaponry” the Afghan Security Forces had – calling them “as well-equipped as any army in the world.”
Not anymore.
The Times reports that the Taliban had more weapons than they needed, and what better way to make some fast cash than to sell them to arms dealers? Some of these arms dealers are even running weapons into neighboring Pakistan, the Times noted. Apparently there is a huge demand for American-made military weapons in Pakistan.
