by Elissa Salamy at Open the Books
Since 2001, the U.S. has spent $83 billion on Afghan security forces, through training and equipment.
“We built them a pretty amazing war chest and now all of it is in the hands of the Taliban,” said Open The Books’ Adam Andrzejewski to Jan Jeffcoat on The National Desk. “We know that last month, as late as July, seven new helicopters were being delivered in the capital city of Kabul.”
How much U.S. military equipment does the Taliban now control?
“We’ve made the Taliban into a major U.S. arms dealer for the next decade,” said Andrzejewski. “They now control 75,000 military vehicles. This is about 50,000 tactical vehicles, 20,000 Humvees they control about 1,000 mine-resistant vehicles, and even about 150 armored personnel carriers.”
According to Andrzejewski, there are also about 208 airplanes and helicopters. Some U.S. equipment given to Afghan security forces is currently unaccounted for, including missing military drones.
“We found a Federal Audit that detailed up to $200 million worth of drones that had disappeared,” said Andrzejewski. “We don’t know where 600,000 weapons are within the country.”…
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