After the withdrawal of U.S. military forces and the immediate collapse of the Republic of Afghanistan military this past week, Senate Republicans want to know just what the U.S. left behind and taken control of by the Taliban. We need to know what the Taliban now have in their possession, in terms of American-supplied munitions.
In a letter on Wednesday, led by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and signed by 24 other Republicans, was sent to U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, with demands for a full of account of U.S. military equipment left behind in Afghanistan.
“It is unconscionable that high-tech military equipment paid for by U.S. taxpayers have fallen into the hands of the Taliban and their terrorist allies,” the senators wrote. “Securing U.S. assets should have been among the top priorities for the U.S. Department of Defense, prior to announcing the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
The lawmaker’s letter called for Austin, and the Department of Defense, to provide detailed information as follows:
1. A full account of military equipment provided to the Afghan Armed forces in the last year
2. All military equipment, owned by either the U.S. or Afghan Armed Forces that was removed or destroyed prior to the U.S. withdrawal, or is rendered inoperable without U.S. logistics personnel.
3. All U.S. military equipment that remains operational in Afghanistan
4. A list of what military equipment has been seized by the Taliban.
5. An assessment of how long it will take the Taliban to use each of the captured equipment
6. An assessment of the likelihood that the Taliban will seek to work with Russia, Pakistan, Iran, or the People’s Republic of China for training, fuel, or infrastructure necessary to utilize the equipment they do not have the capabilities to use on their own
7. Any efforts by the administration, planned or underway, to recapture or destroy equipment that remains in Afghanistan and is risk of being used by terrorist entities
Many domestic firearms trade industry experts are calling out the irony that, at the same time the Biden-Harris Administration has witnessed the implosion of the $88 billion Coalition-trained and equipped army in Afghanistan, it is seeking to shackle the Second Amendment for Americans at home.
Every American could watch their TV’s anytime of the day or night and see what was happening in Afghanistan. As Larry Keane, SVP for government and public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation said, “The devasting visuals of Taliban fighters sweeping through Afghanistan that led to the fall of the Afghan government and the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy revealed a disturbing reality. President Joe Biden was willing to leave billions of dollars worth of high-tech weapons in the hands of the Taliban but is determined to strip law-abiding U.S. citizens of their God-given right to keep and bear arms.”
