Joe Biden Is Now the World’s Top Arms Supplier to Terrorists
The dust hasn’t settled in Afghanistan. The crisis that has erupted since Joe Biden decided to abandon Bagram Air Base and the rest of Afghanistan will continue long past his arbitrary August 31 deadline. After that, the people of that country will be subjected to pogroms the likes of which have not been seen since the Vietnam communists and the Khmer Rouge swept across southeast Asia, killing untold numbers along the way. A refugee crisis is already underway and will eventually become a major issue for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries and Europe. It’s no exaggeration to say that Biden has destabilized much of the world along with fracturing U.S. alliances across the board.
Afghanistan may well descend into a full civil war. ISIS, or ISIS-K, is now present in Afghanistan, and reportedly is a bitter enemy of the Taliban. There remain tribes and groups in that country resolutely opposed to Taliban rule. The main questions concerning them are whether they will continue to put up a fight, and how long can they last? They lasted 20 years while the NATO allies had troops in the country, and for years before that during the Taliban’s first rule. But the Taliban 2.0 control more territory than they did on 9-11 and have new aces to play.
Joe Biden has made the task of anyone who opposes the Taliban extremely difficult going forward. They will not have U.S. combat, intelligence, or advisory services at their backs. They will not have American airpower to call upon. Biden continually refers to “over-the-horizon” anti-terror capability, but that’s nearly non-existent and may dissolve further as America’s standing collapses. Those Afghan groups will also fight against a Taliban that has reportedly captured billions of dollars in American military hardware.
Thus far it hasn’t been possible to get a straight answer out of the Biden administration as to how much functional gear was left behind. That’s not likely to change at any point, though Congress can and must investigate if for no other reason than to determine the extent of the threat the Taliban can pose within and outside of Afghanistan. It could be one of the better-armed military forces in Central Asia, if not the world.
The Hill looked at just how much gear may be in play. Its findings are both eye-watering and extremely worrying.
Between 2003 and 2016, the United States transferred 75,898 vehicles, 599,690 weapons, 162,643 pieces of communications equipment, 208 aircraft, and 16,191 pieces of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment to Afghan forces, according to a 2017 Government Accountability Office report.
From 2017 to 2019, the United States also gave Afghan forces 7,035 machine guns, 4,702 Humvees, 20,040 hand grenades, 2,520 bombs and 1,394 grenade launchers, among other equipment, according to a report last year from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
As of June 30, Afghan forces had 211 U.S.-supplied aircraft in their inventory, a separate SIGAR report said.
At least 46 of those aircraft are now in Uzbekistan after more than 500 Afghan troops used them to flee as the government in Kabul collapsed over the weekend.
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Continue reading this article published August 25, 2021 at PJ Media.
