Some arguments are not really worth having. The debate over how much American military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan is one of those. The real answer is that we don’t know and by ‘we’, I don’t just mean us, but the White House and the Pentagon don’t really know. The sheer amount of corruption in the entire system means that anything we gave the Afghans risked being sold. Equipment and material were reported as destroyed that were actually sold. And so it’s all but impossible to know anything for sure except that we left too much behind.
The right amount of equipment to leave behind for the Taliban was zero. The Pentagon claims that it was only $7 billion.
Approximately $7 billion of military equipment the US transferred to the Afghan government over the course of 16 years was left behind in Afghanistan after the US completed its withdrawal from the country in August, according to a congressionally mandated report from the US Department of Defense viewed by CNN.
This equipment is now in a country that is controlled by the very enemy the US was trying to drive out over the past two decades: the Taliban. The Defense Department has no plans to return to Afghanistan to “retrieve or destroy” the equipment, reads the report, which has been provided to Congress.
The US gave a total of $18.6 billion of equipment to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) from 2005 to August 2021, according to the report. Of that total, equipment worth $7.12 billion remained in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal was completed on August 30, 2021. It included aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment and other materials, according to the DoD report.
We’ve seen varied estimates that are all over the map. Most of those begin with either a maximum total of all the money we spent on providing weapons to Afghan forces (a number no one knows because government accounting is also all but impossible to fully tabulate) or attempts at minimizing it by government officials.
But what we do know is that the correct number should have been zero. Everything else is a matter of details.
Westman says
Is it too late for “The Ministry Of Truth” to add this to stifled truths? How about a new song from the Truth Czar, Nina Jankowicz, to the tune of, “(Money Can’t) Buy Me Love”?
Who knows how much we’ll spend in Ukraine as we fight Russia to the last Ukrainian? Our leftist media stars are good for it.
somehistory says
She could belt out “Money (That’s What I Want)” because she now has the power to stifle all Truth that might be repeated until the foolish begin to believe and not be fools for the rulers any longer. Probably not going to happen.
somehistory says
Saying it was “only” 7 billion doesn’t make it any better than saying it was 85 billion. Once one gets to the point…the money, the equipment, the weapons, the military left behind to try to hide, hoping to be rescued before they are too old to care, or have been tortured to death… for the group that killed so many and will go on killing, the taliban and their ‘partners’ in terror, it doesn’t really matter how many “billions” in military equipment it amounts to….it’s evil and disgusting and so disrespectful of those who gave their best…their best lives, their best sons, their best fathers, their best brothers, uncles, daughters, , sisters, mothers, wives, legs, arms, eyes, …
libertyORdeath says
They have really done a good job desensitizing us to these ludicrous sums of money. I guess when you blow through 3 or 4 TRILLION dollars in a year 7 BILLION doesn’t really seem that bad.
We’re gonna need a new word for this soon. I don’t think “gaslighting” really captures the scale of corruption we are seeing in the West these days.
James Lincoln says
libertyORdeath says,
“I don’t think “gaslighting” really captures the scale of corruption we are seeing in the West these days.”
You are correct, it doesn’t.
United States of America is currently being led over a cliff by a fraudulent and very corrupt administration – turning the country into a “high-class” banana republic.
Devasur says
And those weapons ended with Pakistan and were used to kill Indian soldiers and USA thinks why India is not supporting their war against Russia LOL.
LameBear says
Oh, my, suddenly is went from $85,000,000,000 to $7,000,000,000?
“Approximately $7 billion of military equipment the US transferred to the Afghan government over the course of 16 years was left behind in Afghanistan after the US completed its withdrawal from the country in August, according to a congressionally mandated report from the US Department of Defense viewed by CNN.”
The LIE is in the TRUTH.
Maybe they only “left” $7B, that they “gave” to the “Afghan government”.
The rest they “abandoned” ,,,,,,,,,, so it does not count.
Typical Biden LIES & BULLSH*t.
The entire Biden regime must stand to their TREASON
OLD GUY says
Absolutely no excuse for leaving this military equipment behind in useful condition. No military leader would leave this equipment and weapons to the enemy. Most likely this is the result of the political leadership negotiating the pull out and leaving the weapons behind for the new government.
joanofark06 says
But of course!
Biden: “Basically, We’re Out Of Money” But Vows Another $33 Billion More For Ukraine
https://gellerreport.com/2022/04/biden-basically-were-out-of-money-but-vows-another-33-billion-more-for-ukraine.html/
Infidel says
Did they depreciate all that equipment before coming out w/ that number?