Arms and the Taliban

MY PIECE IN THE TIMES TODAY The Taliban were never short of weapons during the 20-year war with the United States and coalition allies but now they have a well-stocked air force, more armoured vehicles than they need and hundreds of thousands of assault rifles, machineguns and an armoury of ammunition. As part of their retrograde programme, the US military removed or destroyed all their warfighting assets to prevent the Taliban from acquiring them. But everything provided to the Afghan national security forces, $29 billion of dollars worth of equipment, was left behind, and is now in the hands of the insurgents. Between 2003 and 2016, the US supplied the Afghan military with 208 aircraft, 75,898 vehicles, 599,690 weapons, including M16 assault rifles and M4 carbines,and howitzers, 162,643 pieces of communication equipment and 16,191 intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment systems, a 2017 US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed. In addition, according to John Sopko, special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, between 2017 and 2019, the US provided the Afghans with 4,702 armoured Humvees, 7,035 machineguns, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers. The list also included 16,000 night-vision goggles, a game-changing piece of battlefield kit, and dozens of drones. The Taliban never had an air force when they were in power between 1996 and 2001, just a handful of inoperable Soviet helicopters and transport planes. Under American guidance, training and generosity, a modern air force was built. It included 25 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, built in Brazil but modified in the US with American-made weapons and sensors, 45 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, ten AC-208 Combat Caravan counter-insurgency planes and 45 Russian-made Mi-17 and 49 MD-530 helicopters. Not all the aircraft are at the Taliban’s disposal. At least 46 of the Afghan air force assets were flown to safety in Uzbekistan, including some Super Tucanos and Black Hawks. A number of Black Hawks are also back in the US for maintenance. Plans to hand over more Black Hawks to the Afghans are now on permanent hold. However, the unpredicted collapse of the Afghan national forces in the final 11 days of the Taliban offensive meant the US was unable to make any plans to remove the advanced aircraft and helicopters from Afghanistan before the insurgents arrived in Kabul. US defence officials said that if any attempt had been made to fly out the aircraft as the Taliban approached the capital, it would have spurred on the insurgents and removed any motivation left in the Afghan military to put up a fight. It was a Catch 22 situation and it has left the Pentagon with a challenge it seems in no hurry to resolve. General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the priority task at present was to evacuate all Americans and Afghans who worked for the US military. The question of what to do about the aircraft, helicopters and other equipment left behind would be a matter to consider at a later date, he said. Meanwhile, US officials have pointed out that although the thousands of M16s and M4s, plus howitzers and armoured vehicles would give the Taliban a significant advantage in suppressing any resistance to their regime, the captured air force assets would largely be trophies of war. Without pilots and maintenance know-how, the aircraft and helicopters would sit unused in their hangars. The officials also said none of the aircraft were fitted with sensitive technology, so even if the Taliban were to share their spoils with the Chinese or Russians, no military secrets would be revealed.