US denies leaving military equipment behind in Afghanistan

A top US official said on Wednesday no military equipment had been left behind by American forces in Afghanistan, in response to a question about reports that $7 billion worth of weapons reportedly were abandoned in the war-torn country when US forces withdrew in August 2011.

The comments by John Kirby, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, came days after Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said US military equipment left behind during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan was now “emerging as a new challenge” for Islamabad as it had enhanced the fighting capabilities of the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Arab News reported.

The remarks also came on the same day four Pakistani soldiers were killed during an attack on two military check posts by a “large group of terrorists” that the army said was equipped with “latest weapons.”

“There was no equipment left behind by American forces,” Kirby said in response to a question at a press briefing.

“The equipment that people are saying the Americans left behind, that was equipment that was transferred well in advance of our departure to the Afghan National Security Forces. … because that was part of the mission that our troops were involved in Afghanistan to do in the first place, which was to train up and to support Afghan national security forces as they took charge of security in their country.”

Kirby said the former Afghan National Security Forces, and not the US, abandoned that equipment.