Former President Donald Trump issued another comment on President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan on Sunday, this time concentrating on the US military equipment that was left behind and is believed to have ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
Trump claimed that the Biden administration should demand the Taliban return the equipment immediately, but if they refuse, he suggested employing "unambiguous military action" to recover it or at the very least bombing "the hell out of it."
Taliban took billions of dollars worth of US weapons
Following the Taliban's takeover of the Afghan government, it was stated that the Taliban had taken billions of dollars worth of US weapons, including firearms, vehicles, and several aircraft. Without training, the planes are practically useless, but their seizure provides the Taliban with propaganda tools.
Afghan forces are thought to have had 211 aircraft provided by the United States in its inventory as of June 30. At least 46 of those aircraft are now in Uzbekistan, having been used by Afghan forces to flee the Taliban, as per The Hill.
Last week, House Oversight and Reform Committee members James Comer (Ky.) and Glenn Grothman (Wis.) wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asking details on the Pentagon's intentions to retrieve these weapons.
Although a lack of training and spare parts may prevent the Taliban from ever lifting a more complicated US aircraft off the ground, videos of Taliban fighters posing proudly next to UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters circulating on social media show that these spoils are being used as key propaganda tools.
Over the previous two decades, the US has spent an estimated $83 billion on training and equipping Afghan security personnel. According to a 2017 report by the Government Accountability Office, the US delivered approximately 76,000 vehicles, 600,000 weapons systems, and 208 aircraft to the Afghan Security Forces between 2013 and 2016.
Read Also: Taliban Promises to Allow Afghan People Leave Afghanistan After August 31 Evacuation Deadline
Trump says he would not let Taliban conquer Kabul
A recent Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) analysis indicates the Defense Department has supplied Afghan forces over 4,700 Humvees, 7,000 machine guns, and over 20,000 grenades in the previous several years.
Trump's February 2020 peace pact with the Taliban, in which he pledged to withdraw US troops and free 5,000 Taliban prisoners provided they did not attack the US or house terrorists, has also come under fire.
Trump, on the other hand, stated that he would never have permitted the Taliban to conquer Kabul. Last week, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that if the Taliban had broken the peace agreement, he would have "bombed the hell out of them" and they would never have entered Kabul, Daily Mail reported.
Per Media ITE, the departure of US military forces during the Biden administration did not proceed as planned, and most rational people would agree that it was terrible, at the very least in terms of public relations, if not more. In less than two weeks, 300,000 Afghan troops seemed to hand up control of the whole war-torn country to Taliban fighters, along with $85 billion in high-grade weapons handed to them over the previous two decades.
During Trump's four years in office, he and his government attempted to negotiate with the Taliban to take over the nation, but they failed to remove all troops. President Joe Biden followed through on that pledge, but in a way that opponents say has made an already perilous political position unimaginably worse.
Related Article: Joe Biden Pays Tribute to 13 Fallen US Troops; Snaps at Question, Storms Out After Reporter Asks About Afghanistan
