Taliban’s new US weapons likely to fall into hands of terror groups targeting India

New Delhi, Aug 31: The rapid fall of the Ashraf Ghani government to the Taliban has resulted in chaos in Afghanistan. While there have been several developments, one also got to witness the loot of weapons provided by the US by the Taliban.

The Taliban had managed to capture billions of dollars worth of US military equipment that had once belonged to the Afghan forces.

That brings us to the question, what the Taliban is likely to do with all these weapons. Estimates suggest that the American forces had provided over 6.5 lakh small arms which included the M-16 and M-4 assault rifles to the Afghan forces over the past two decades. The US also provided steel core bullets, a large number of communication equipment, sniper rifles, night vision goggles and bulletproof equipment.

The Taliban also took control of the Black Hawk helicopters, A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft and mine-resistant humvees.

Experts OneIndia spoke with said that the manner in which the Taliban has hoarded the weapons are a clear sign that there would be negative consequences in the Afghan borders. Not just this, the weapons could be smuggled into Middle East and even to Southeast Asia. The Haqqani Network which works along with the Taliban has the capabilities of smuggling the weapons out of Kabul.

Experts also warn that the weapons could be also be sold to hostile governments and in the black market, which would help the Taliban raise a great deal of money. The worry for India is that the Taliban could send these weapons to Pakistan, which in turn will be used by groups such as the Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

Indian officials say that they are tracking these developments. While it is worrisome that such sophisticated equipment would land into the hands of terrorists, India is fully prepared to face this challenge.

While Joe Biden has been criticised heavily for the manner in which the troop withdrawal took place, the US on its part has now suspended all arms sales to Afghanistan. This decision was taken three days after the Taliban took control over the country. The US in a notice to the defence contractors said pending or undelivered arms transfers to Afghanistan have been put under review for the time being.

Earlier a new video surfaced showing Taliban forces flying a US Black Hawk helicopter over Kandahar to patrol the city. The footage was shared by Talib Times, which claims to be the official news source for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

In the unverified footage, a man is seen hanging from the helicopter. The post on Twitter has been captioned, 'our Air Force. At this time, the Islamic Emirate's Air Force helicopters are flying over Kandahar city and patrolling the city.'

Earlier this month, National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan had admitted that the US does not have a clear picture of how much missing USD 83 bullion of military inventory could be in the hands of the Taliban.