Taliban showcases abandoned US military equipment

The Taliban claims to have repaired and put back to use around 300 U.S. military vehicles. The vehicles were left behind in Afghanistan from when the U.S. withdrew its last remaining troops in 2021. In a Twitter post, the Afghanistan Defense Ministry shared photos of rows of purported U.S. vehicles which the Taliban says have been “restored.”

۳۰۰ واسطه نقليه تخریب شده در قول اردو ۲۰۵ البدر ترميم گردید

به تعداد (۳۰۰) نوع واسطه نقليه نظامی که تخریب و غیر قابل استفاده بودند دوباره توسط تیم تخنیکی لوای ابودجانه قول اردوی البدر ترمیم و آماده استفاده گردیدند… pic.twitter.com/afTPg7pf7c

— د ملي دفاع وزارت – وزارت دفاع ملی (@MoDAfghanistan2) March 24, 2023

Pentagon officials have previously said that portions of the equipment left behind were demilitarized and rendered unusable. The Taliban did not provide video evidence showing the vehicles in working operation.

Afghan media reports the Taliban has also managed to repair hundreds of other vehicles, including 150 International Kamazes, 125 Humvees, two assault tanks, four trucks, 10 Porcliff vehicles, and 15 Humvee ambulances.

The fall of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan gave Taliban fighters access to more than $7 billion worth of American military equipment, according to the Pentagon.

Lawmakers press for answers

As part of a larger investigation into the Biden administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal, House Republicans have issued Secretary of State Antony Blinken a subpoena to obtain classified “dissent cables” from the State Department related to the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The cable reportedly warned of the grave risk that the government would collapse. The State Department has resisted the committee’s efforts to obtain it.

Created in 1971, the dissent channel is a mechanism through which State Department employees can express dissenting or alternative views on foreign policy issues to high-level officials, as reported by CBS.

“We have made multiple good faith attempts to find common ground so we could see this critical piece of information,” Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Secretary Blinken has refused to provide the Dissent Cable and his response to the cable, forcing me to issue my first subpoena as chairman of this committee,” he added, as reported by The Associated Press.

Blinken has previously said that this information needs to be protected and that taking any steps to release it outside current guidelines could “have a chilling effect on the willingness of others to express dissenting views in the future.”

In the final days of the U.S. withdrawal, 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans were killed. The withdrawal marked the end of America’s longest war.