Taliban’s Latest Move Is a Stinging Reminder of Biden’s Disastrous Afghanistan Withdrawal
Taliban soldiers paraded through the streets of Kabul Sunday, riding in American-made armored vehicles and carrying American-made weapons.
SO WHAT
President Joe Biden’s handling of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is having consequences.
NOW
Dozens of U.S.-made M117 armoured security vehicles proceeded up a major Kabul road as MI-17 helicopters patrolled the skies, Reuters reported.
Watch:#Taliban forces hold a military parade in #Kabul using captured American-made armored vehicles and Russian helicopters in a display that show their ongoing transformation from an insurgent force to a regular standing army.https://t.co/vpbZL6OB93 pic.twitter.com/rSFZeZSh9t
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) November 15, 2021
Meanwhile, troops carried American made-M4 assault rifles.
- The military parade was held in celebration of the graduation of newly trained soldiers, Taliban defense ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi said.
- According to Reuters, most of the weaponry currently in use by the group was supplied by Washington to the American-backed government in Kabul, which quickly fell to the Taliban in August.
THEN
Critics on both sides of the aisle hammered Biden for the chaotic nature of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
- One of the biggest sticking points for detractors has been the Taliban getting their hands on U.S. equipment supplied to the regime in Kabul.
- The US transferred $28 billion worth of defense articles to the Afghanistan government, according to a Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction report released last year.
- “First you bring out all of the American citizens. Then you bring out ALL equipment. Then you bomb the bases into smithereens — AND THEN YOU BRING OUT THE MILITARY,” former President Donald Trump said in a statement in August.