IEA rejects reports of selling US military equipment to Pakistan

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) officials on Thursday rejected reports published in the media that the new government is selling off US military equipment to Pakistan.

IEA officials said there was no truth in these reports and that it was simply propaganda.

“We have faced propaganda for the past 20 years… there are video clips that show some military equipment being transferred from one province to another. It (selling equipment) is rumors, it is not true,” said Inayatullah Khorazmi, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

Reports emerged on Thursday that sources told Pakistan’s Dawn News that in order to ensure that lethal weapons left behind by the Americans do not fall into the hands of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and other terrorist groups, Pakistan is buying back a huge cache of these weapons.

It is estimated that US forces left behind nearly 200,000 deadly weapons.

Last month, the New York Times also reported that US weapons, which were seized by the IEA after American troops withdrew, were being openly sold in shops by Afghan gun dealers who paid for the weapons and ammunition.

Under a US training and assistance program, that cost American taxpayers more than $83 billion over 20 years of war, the equipment was originally provided to the Afghan security forces.

According to documents seen by Ariana News, equipment in the Afghan army’s possession at the time of the government’s collapse, in August, was as follows:

1- 22,174 military tactical vehicles
2- 8,000 military trucks
3- 634 armored 1117M tanks
4- 155 armored vehicles
5- 169 M113 military tanks
6- 42, 000 Ranger and Hilux vehicles
7- 33 (Mi-17) helicopters
8- 33 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
9- 43 (MD-530) helicopters
10- Four transport helicopters
11- 23 (A29) fighter planes
12- 28 transport planes
13- 10 (AC- 208) military planes
14- 16,243 telecommunication devices
15- 16,035 night vision cameras
16- 358,530 M16 firearms
17- 126, 295 rifles
18- 176 rocket launchers

This equipment was reported to be in Kabul, Kunduz, Helmand, Balkh, Herat and Paktia bases that were taken control of by IEA forces.

One former military official, Sadiq Shinwari said Pakistan is hoping to take possession of millions of dollars worth of equipment.

“Pakistan wants to transfer equipment worth millions from Afghanistan. Pakistan’s recent speech was a campaign, because of its intelligence goals,” said Shinwari.

Over the years, thousands of units of equipment were handed over to the Afghan government by the US. Between 2017 and 2019, the former Afghan government was given:

1- 7,035 weapons
2- 4,702 military vehicles
3- 20,040 grenades
4- 2,520 bombs plus other heavy artillery

In addition to the listed equipment, the document seen by Ariana News indicated there had been just over 182,000 soldiers and 118,600 national police and intelligence forces (NDS) combined wgho were in service at the time of the government’s collapse.

For years, the Afghan government said security forces totaled over 300,000 but speculation was always rife that this number included ghost soldiers.