Currently, US Military Equipment In Taliban’s Hands Valued At Over $85 Billion

The Taliban has access to a significant amount of weapons left behind by the US on their exit from Afghanistan, according to US Congressman Jim Banks.

Banks gave details on the situation in a speech earlier this week in Washington and warned that the Taliban now has access to over $85 billion worth of American military equipment. Banks was a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan as well as a foreign military sales officer.

“The Taliban now has access to over $85 billion worth of American military equipment.That includes over 75,000 vehicles, over 200 airplanes and helicopters, over 600,000 small arms and light weapons. The Taliban now has more Black Hawk Helicopters than 85% of the countries in the world. But they don’t just have weapons,” he continues. “They also have night vision goggles, body armour, medical supplies, and unfathomably, unfathomable to me and so many others, is that the Taliban now has biometric devices which have the fingerprints, eye scan and biographical information of the Afghans who helped us over the last 20 years.”

The British evacuation mission at the Kabul airport is set to end in “a matter of hours,” U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Friday. The US and its allies are currently racing to complete evacuating the country following a Taliban takeover earlier this month. 

As the British troops withdraw, they will also be leaving behind low grade military supplies.

The Taliban has wasted no time in boasting about their new supplies, taking photos and videos posing with the captured materials.

FMI: www.defense.gov