U.S. troops exiting Afghanistan left behind a vast amount of military gear and equipment that have made the Taliban better-armed than ever.
show a Black Hawk flying the Taliban’s white banner during a military parade this week. The occasional whump-whump of a Russian Mi-17 helicopter can still be heard over Kabul.None of the aerial fleet left behind is cutting-edge, said a U.S. pilot and trainer who asked not to be named so as to comment freely. The aircraft, he said, were “stripped of every modern component.”
Besides, whatever does fly now probably won’t be doing so in a few months, said an Afghan Air Force colonel who spoke on condition of anonymity because he recently escaped the country and still has family in Afghanistan. Even when, he said, it had no way of maintaining the aircraft without contractors and a steady pipeline of spare parts; bigger repairs required the aircraft to be taken to U.S. bases in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar.
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