President Donald Trump has announced plans to recover billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. military equipment left in Afghanistan following the 2021 withdrawal. During a recent Cabinet meeting, he emphasized the importance of retrieving advanced weaponry and vehicles now under Taliban control.
In August 2021, the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving behind over $7 billion in equipment, including armored vehicles, aircraft, and weapons. A Department of Defense report from 2022 detailed that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces had received approximately $18.6 billion in military equipment from 2005 until the withdrawal. The Taliban seized a significant portion of this arsenal, showcasing it in military parades and propaganda materials.
President Trump criticized the previous administration’s handling of the withdrawal, highlighting the strategic and financial losses incurred. He stated, “We left billions, tens of billions of dollars worth of equipment behind, brand new trucks. You see them display it every year, or their little roadway, someplace where they have a road and they drive the, you know, waving the flag and talking about America … that’s all the top of the line stuff. I think we should get a lot of that equipment back.”
The Department of Defense report indicated that the abandoned equipment included over $4 billion worth of armored vehicles, $923 million in military aircraft, and $511 million in weapons. While some aircraft were demilitarized before the withdrawal, many vehicles and weapons remained operational, posing potential security threats.
The President’s plan to recover this equipment involves diplomatic and strategic measures, though specific details have not been disclosed. The White House has yet to provide a comprehensive strategy for the retrieval process. This initiative reflects the administration’s commitment to national security and fiscal responsibility, aiming to prevent advanced weaponry from bolstering adversarial forces.
