[jkrishnakj]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p2dJmSDfMDQ

Please take a look at this video. It all adds up to the costs.

[am1m]

We're all speculating, till someone with an army background can post and I know we have a few members like that.

But knowing how organized every army is, and since this was a planned withdrawal, I'm betting they did disable anything significant before they left.

What is possible is that the weapons the US have supplied to the Afghan police and army, those could very well be in Taliban hands after the US troops left since I read that with the Taliban advance, most of those local troops found it impractical to hold their positions. Still worrying of course, that's still some hi-tech weaponry in hands they weren't meant to be in, in an already dangerous region.

Feel sorry for the people of Afghanistan, so many decades and the situation remains the same.

Originally Posted by whencut86

Too early to tell but this China-Taliban relationship is going to be a tricky one for China in the long run.

History repeats itself. Every superpower seems to want to try their hand in Afghanistan. The Great Game. The Brits when they had their empire. The Soviets when they were the powerful USSR. The US during the "American Century". China might want to be next. Looks like this is now one of the items to be ticked off on the "new superpower checklist" - GDP, nuclear weapons, try to change the course of Afghanistan's history.

Really sad for the local Afghans.

[mvadg]

Only a fraction of the outlay for training and equipping the Afghan army was spent on the actual purpose.
This is the likely reason the Afghan army was never strong enough to take on the Taliban:

https://youtu.be/6fMX72z8gp8

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

As per reports and comments from American Congress members and intelligence operatives, the Taliban (and by default terrorist organisations like ISIS and Pakistan's ISI) now have access to extremely sophisticated equipment, vehicles and military hardware. This can escalate into a massive security risk for neighboring countries like ours. This whole situation is a recipe for disaster.

Pakistan will try and divert some action to our borders and they will get back in kind in multiples. It will escalate into small time flare ups in our Northern borders but we are not the country we were in 1990s. Pakistan knows this as well and they cannot afford anything big against us due to their financial condition. As Senior Bhutto is said to have famously and openly remarked "Bleed India to death by a thousand cuts", they will keep trying this time and again.

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Other fear is that now China will have easy access to all this, thanks to their alliance with the Taliban.

China would have already had access to these now in these past few days. The sole aim to get into bed with the Taliban is to get some these weaponry and equipment for them to replicate. Too early to tell but this China-Taliban relationship is going to be a tricky one for China in the long run. China will keep pumping money to Taliban and Taliban knowing how China treats its Uighurs will be wary of China as well. If China get too cozy with Taliban, they will face a situation like US does now.

Originally Posted by Turbohead

Either way, the real winners are the manufacturers and the real losers are the army men and the people in Afghanistan and around it.

Whatever it is, the US is no longer a super power nor a dependable country by any means.

Completely true, the war veterans and families of people who gave up their lives in Afghan will feel completely let down. Could see more resignation of men in uniform triggered by this pullout and many such official letters and articles are all over social media. US is never a dependable ally. They maybe one to UK but not even to Israel. Over the course of history there are lot of articles of various intelligence agencies spying over one other when it comes to US, British and Israel. US credibility of being a super power got exposed everywhere from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan now.

Originally Posted by SideView

You are telling me that with proper planning these huge multi million equipments couldnt be evacuated on time? (Who are you kidding US!!)

These wars just act to justify huge money plays and arsenal left behind is just to create unrest in the area. Which leads to more wars and more weapon purchases. Who is gaining out of all this? (You guessed it)

The arms mafia which is at the backend of every US administration will benefit a great deal. More disturbances, more weapons pumped in and more arms deals with many countries. But I believe the trick is knowing when to pull out and how to pull out. Russia pulled out of Afghan at the right time and backs the Northern Alliance which is against the Taliban. Ideally, US will actually silently and secretly back the Taliban to counter Russian influence and they leaving behind all weapons and equipment points to that. The worst part is not only did they leave these equipment and weaponry, they also left information like list of translators, list of officials/intelligence guys and whole lot of other information as well as per news articles circling around. Not just the US but the British as well.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Saw this list of military equipment now under Taliban control. This is totally worrisome. All nations should unite to open up a front against this terrorist Talibani regime, or else the subcontinent faces the risk of annihilation. Situation can spiral out of control; it's a matchbox.

I keep seeing this forwarded? Did you managed to find a source for that list?

I tried reading this article, (Aug 23rd)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamand...h=33288e9c41db

and it seems to show that the list is a sum total of equipment bought by the US?

"An unnamed official told Reuters that current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban took control of more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including American Humvees, and as many as 40 aircraft that may include UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters and ScanEagle military drones.

Crucial quote

“We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday, The Hill reported. “And obviously, we don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.”

Critic

Republican Senators have demanded that there be a full count of U.S. military equipment left in Afghanistan."

[sagarpadaki]

Unless the Taliban is able to find spares and tools to upkeep these equipment's, they are as good as scrap. And I do not think it is possible to find these spares in the open market. So, at the outset it may look like a lot of equipment's, but in reality they are just on their way of becoming scrap in a matter of time.

[AZT]

The above image about the Arsenal is from Reddit and is based on ALL the items given to the Afghan army in the period from 2002 to 2016 and not what was left on the ground in new, usable condition on August 30, 2021. Given the nature of war, neglect, and US moving some of these to their other bases in the region, what portion of those items are still in service? Damn little--I guarantee it.

Below is the detailed breakdown of 2003-2016 equipment:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamand...h=30222dc841db

[JoshMachine]

Originally Posted by girishv

May be this gives an idea of the vehicles left behind. It's from WA University, so please take it with a pinch of salt.

If true, cannot even dread to think how & where this will be put to use

[lsjey]

I'm sure that US military planners would have done their best to disable these war machines. However, when they knew that they have to leave behind this much of machines, I cannot keep from thinking in the following lines:

1. Gift and ask a local ally, like India, to fly these machines out. These machines are better in an ally's hand than being wasted. Would this have been too difficult?
2. Should India count US as a strategic partner/ally given the above point?

It pains me to note that US is willing to waste so much money on Afghan Army but does not support India at all in many ways. India is right in buying most military hardware from countries which have more stable foreign policy.

Regards,
lsjey

[am1m]

Originally Posted by lsjey

Gift and ask a local ally, like India, to fly these machines out.

For better or worse (usually worse!) the local ally for the US in that region would be Pakistan. So I guess we should be grateful they didn't do something like that!

Going by the experience of most post-WW2 military allies of the US, I'm actually happy we aren't that close. It's a double-edged sword with the ally getting dragged in to every war they choose to start all over the planet!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by girishv

May be this gives an idea of the vehicles left behind. It's from WA University, so please take it with a pinch of salt.

If this is true, one can safely assume that these have been 'conveniently' left behind for someone to benefit. The number of pickups and hummees is so high, it makes you believe that they may have been specifically imported for the purpose of 'leaving behind'. Why couldn't they have planned and transported them the equipment costing billions? Either this is extremely cowardly or cunning act.

[fhdowntheline]

Why couldnt the troops just have destroyed key equipment in the planes and choppers before leaving ? Just destroy the Engines if nothing else. That would have been enough. The airframes would have been as good as toys. In fact, they could have used drones on their own equipment , keeping human assets at safe length.

[anjan_c2007]

Hi-tech weapons have fallen into the not so good hands. These can turn lethal for those whom these are used upon and we are well aware of the present regime's misdoings. An US helicopter was seen flying with a slain man's torso a day or two back.

The weapons will get into able hands. Much like the US made "state of the art" Sabre jets aided to Pakistan during the pre-1965 years by the US administration. These Sabre jets were shot by our weapon systems including our HAL made Gnats then. Hence, they need able hands to handle such lethal equipment.

Also US weapons could land into Uncle Sam's enemy regimes who would do some reverse engineering and prepare copy-cat designs of these equipment.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Hi-tech weapons have fallen into the not so good hands. These can turn lethal for those whom these are used upon and we are well aware of the present regime's misdoings. An US helicopter was seen flying with a slain man's torso a day or two back.

Regarding the slain main video:
https://www.reuters.com/article/fact...-idUSL1N2Q22W0

[CarNerd]

What did the US achieve in Afghanistan after 20 years? Anger of the Afghan people! The US gave hope to the people and ran away. From now on, nobody will trust the US to be their ally and protect them. Pakistan and China will try to control the Taliban. This withdrawal will further embolden Iran to attack the US and its allies in the Gulf. Iran, Pakistan & Russia will make sure the US exits the region sooner or later.

As to those weapons left behind, I think there's nothing to worry about. Remember our main adverseries have proper armies along with nukes.