In brokering the surrender of entire Afghan army divisions over the past week, the Taliban took control of billions worth of American-made weapons and equipment, including small arms, Humvees, pickup trucks, aircraft and drones.This was reported by the Al-Arabiya TV channel with reference to their sources.
The images that have spread across the world over the past week of Taliban fighters posing in front of captured helicopters and light attack aircraft have allowed the group to further humiliate the former Afghan and American governments. But these images don’t concern longtime extremism watchers as much as the proliferation of guns, bullets and grenades.
In the chaos of the moment, however, it’s unclear to U.S. officials how much equipment the Taliban has seized and how much sits unattended on bases and small combat outposts across the country. That uncertainty over the status of a massive arsenal is sparking fears of a regional arms bazaar that could be a boon to terrorist groups and insurgents.
It is noted that the hijacking of aircraft caused a serious concern in Pentagon.According to sources, a decision has not yet been made to eliminate the weapons seized by the Taliban as much of the more sophisticated equipment such as aircraft and communications gear will likely become inoperable within months.
Despite it will be difficult to use military aircraft for the Taliban as there are no pilots, that still represents a serious security risk for the countries surrounding Afghanistan because the weapons could easily be sold to militias both inside the country and in places such as Pakistan, said Guy Lamb, safety, and violence initiative director at the University of Cape Town.