[arpanjha]

The weapons list shown by the supposedly Reddit article was really surprising and quite unbelievable to me, till the time @AZT threw light on it. Nevertheless, regardless of the quantum of stuff left behind, it goes beyond doubt that the Chinese are going to make full use of them. Having worked closely with the Chinese since many years, I am very confident they can make a working Apache out of a detailed image let alone a dead helicopter, salute to them… but on the other hand, terrible and worrisome times ahead as Indians.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by whencut86

Taliban knowing how China treats its Uighurs will be wary of China as well.

You mean they will ask China to improve their human rights records in regards to Uighurs? Won't happen, even Pakistan which screams about Kashmir everywhere, treats its Uighur refugees badly to curry favours with China.

Ultimately this all happened because US didn't watch Rambo 3, before planning to attack Afghanistan.

https://youtu.be/WsCNZN3v2l0

[jetsetgo08]

Originally Posted by Samurai

So the real question is did USA really disable their equipment beyond redemption? Can these highly trained mechanics bring them back to life?

One need not destroy the aircraft as a whole. Just destroying the central computer, fms and other avionics of the aircraft or helicopter will ground it. It is analogous to destroying the ECU/BCM of a car. But, I doubt the Americans had the time to handicap all the equipment they held, if not all.

However, I do agree with others, there is a high possibility the parts could be reused/sold/scrapped/reverse engineered.

[GTO]

Guys, just a soft reminder of our rule against any discussion on politics or politicians. Please refrain. Thanks for the support & understanding

[condor]

Like SagarPadaki & few others have mentioned: it's not as bad/big as media is making it out to be

From what I have been reading:

On paper, the list of equipment is huge. The value of $80B is the value of these IF they are in working condition. But the situation is different, unlike what media is generally shouting.

Like any professional army, US Army has done it's job. Evaluation of cost of removal vs making these redundant. The cost of removal was huge.

Example: one C-17 needs about 61500 USD per hour of flying. With situation till date, they would have had to incur additional cost to bring in sufficient fuel even to take these C-17's out of the area. Not even talking of moving them back to USA.

Similarly, all key aircraft and advanced equipment have been disabled beyond repair - both in terms of key modules, software etc. So what's left is basically junk or some scrap-yard quality salvage material. May be a little better, but nothing beyond that.

Neither Afghanistan nor Pak has the people with knowledge to get these back into working condition (more so because only the person who did the disablement knows what he has done).

Some stuff like vehicles, or ammunition would be there, but these are small change compared to the value that is being talked about.

[Lowflyer23]

Originally Posted by 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:

The Afghan army never fought (or was allowed to) fight head on with the Taliban. No organisation can take over a country so easily while completely sidelining the army. It's a classic case of top level bureaucratic corruption. It would be unethical for any soldier to simply step aside and let a militant organisation have it's way and I believe no soldier would do that.

As for the Americans, I have no words for them. They have always liked "SHOWBAAZI" with monetory investment and media image being more important than human life and certain morals. Also, they left all their military dogs (trained sniffers) behind in small cages while the Indian troops got theirs. This itself is a clear indication of their viewpoint.

[Sebring]

Why didn't they park all of this in India? We could have happily used and maintained it. Points to some kind of understanding between the US and the Taliban, which is unsaid till now.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Why didn't they park all of this in India? We could have happily used and maintained it. Points to some kind of understanding between the US and the Taliban, which is unsaid till now.

Again, all of what? If you are referring to the purported list of equipment being circulated in social media, there is no confirmation and it looks like the overall list of equipment the US has utilized in Afghanistan and not what's left behind.

And i guess that is something that we will never know.

[Black_Star]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Why didn't they park all of this in India? We could have happily used and maintained it. Points to some kind of understanding between the US and the Taliban, which is unsaid till now.

To answer your question, to get to India they have to cross Pakistan or PoK, thus there is a chance to getting shot down by them.

When the fall of Kabul was imminent the Afghan airmen flew their operational aircraft to Termez Airport in Uzbekistan. At least 22 military planes and 24 helicopters carrying 585 Afghans fled to Uzbekistan.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by Samurai

You mean they will ask China to improve their human rights records in regards to Uighurs? Won't happen, even Pakistan which screams about Kashmir everywhere, treats its Uighur refugees badly to curry favours with China.

Pakistan has hardliners but their administration will bend to anyone who has money. Taliban I assume may not be so. They are still in medieval times and will not have a relationship with China like how Pak does now. But can't be sure, US were able to get some Taliban warlords on their side with just Viagra tablets. China can get them to bow down for money as well.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Sebring

Why didn't they park all of this in India?

For all the noise our leaders make about the US and the empty statements made by any number of US politicians of Indian origin (to pander to their vote base...in the US!), the hard fact remains that Pakistan is a non-NATO ally of the US.

"Despite the troubled events and times, Pakistan continues to occupy an important place in American geopolitical strategy and has been a major non-NATO ally since 2002.[6][7] Even today, the United States continues to engage with Pakistan in all aspects as the United States is the second-largest supplier of military equipment to Pakistan after China"

"Nations named as major non-NATO allies are eligible for the following benefits:[23]

• priority delivery of military surplus (ranging from rations to ships)
• possession of War Reserve Stocks of DoD-owned equipment that are kept outside of American military bases
• loans of equipment and materials for cooperative research and development projects and evaluations
• permission to use American financing for the purchase or lease of certain defense equipment"

So assuming that there was/is anything to donate (which is also beginning to look like there is really nothing significant left behind), they, not us, would have gotten it. No matter how many US presidents we hug , they are the ones that have a formal military alliance.

Perhaps that might change now, since the US doesn't need Pakistan to help launch ops in Afghanistan anymore. Or perhaps it might get deeper since the US needs some sort of counter to the present rulers of Afghanistan. (Whom they initially financed in an earlier avatar to counter the Soviets...karma is unforgiving!)

All still speculation anyhow. I hope someone with a military background weighs in on this thread.

[rsjagtap]

Since Taliban now rules Afghanistan, the country has been set back by almost 20 years. And now Taliban has their biggest adversary to face i.e International Politics.
They will be crushed by the neighboring countries and its politics.

For the things US left behind, there has to be a contingency plan is emergency scenarios.
Something big is definitely at play here.

[LaRoca]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

I personally, still can't figure out the actual reason for the US to leave Afghanistan in such state.

Quagmire.

2003 to 2014 in Iraq. Outcome? More terror, chaos.

2001 to 2021 in Afghanistan. Outcome? More terror, chaos.

History repeats. And then some

[arpanjha]

Just as GTO pointed above, let us not get drifted towards discussing the political angle to this.

I was wondering, could the US have planted remote access device on some of the not so old equipments which they could use at a later date to disable key systems? I think this might be possible. Even if not the first generation equipments brought in around 2001/2002 but of the more modern ones. I am assuming equipments have been steadily coming in over the last 20 years. Any defence or intelligence experts here who could speculate on such a possibility?

Maybe if at all, these can also be used as surveillance devices at a later point of time.

[Raghu M]

There was never a good time to pull out. This was the outcome given any pull out. So, the US did what it does best. Pull out when least expected. Coming to the equipment, I don't think the Taliban can use all of it. I think at least 80% of that state of the art equipment has already been rendered useless. The US wouldn't act so foolishly and let that military hardware lay on Taliban's hands. They had good dealings with each other, so this mostly is for optics. No Taliban is a trained Apache pilot. Even if they start it, they would need high end base support which is evidently not the case. Only guns can be used as-is as the Taliban can create those cheap replicas easily and even lathe the bullets.