Gun dealers in Afghanistan are selling U.S. military weapons to terrorists, a New York Times investigation has uncovered.
As well as pistols and rifles, criminals are also selling other pieces of equipment like “binoculars and night-vision goggles,” the report states.
The weapons were “originally provided to the Afghan security forces under a U.S. training and assistance program that cost American taxpayers more than $83 billion through two decades of war.”
Defense Department spokesman Maj. Rob Lodewick said on Monday:
“Since 2005, the U.S. military has provided the Afghan national defense and security forces with many thousands of small arms.”
He warned that large numbers of these advanced weapons “are probably now in Taliban hands.”
Lawenforcementtoday.com reports: A spokesman for the Taliban, however denied selling the weapons.
In an interview with the New York Times, a Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, said that weapons were not for sale. “I totally deny this; our fighters cannot be that careless,” he said. “Even a single person cannot sell a bullet in the market or smuggle it.”
Karimi added that the captured weapons “are all listed, verified and are all saved and secure under the Islamic Emirate for the future army.”
As previously reported by Gateway Pundit, the Taliban was able to acquire, among other things:
- 2,000 armored vehicles including Humvees and MRAPs
- 45 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters
- 50 MD530G Scout Attack choppers
- 208 miscellaneous aircraft
- 600,000+ small arms, a number of military rifles, grenade launchers Gatling guns and ammunition
- 61,000 M203 rounds
- 20,040 grenades
- Howitzers
- Mortars, including thousands of rounds
- 162,000 pieces of encrypted military communications gear
- 16,000+ night vision goggles
- And a lot more…including millions of rounds of ammunition, including 7.62mm and .50 caliber rounds
There were also unconfirmed rumors that the Taliban secured US military drone jamming equipment.
Maybe the United States can get a deal on eBay.
