Former US president Donald Trump asserted that the Taliban, which Russia has banned as a terrorist organization, disposed of American weapons left behind in Afghanistan by selling them to Russia and China. He said this claim came from reports in Russia, specifically attributed to TASS.
Trump described the Taliban as now ranking second globally in arms sales, a statement he used to illustrate what he views as the consequences of the Afghan withdrawal and the subsequent control of sophisticated military gear.
According to the former president, roughly 700,000 small arms and about 70,000 pieces of US-made equipment remained in the country after U.S. forces pulled out of Afghanistan.
Earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal, citing a study by the US Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, John Sopko, suggested that the summer 2021 troop withdrawal was carried out with insufficient coordination. The report indicated that weapons and military equipment with a value of up to 7.2 billion dollars ended up in the hands of the new authorities in Afghanistan, creating a complex security challenge for the region.
Prior to that, John Kirby, who served as Strategic Communications Coordinator for the White House National Security Council, faced questions about whether components of the weapons abandoned by US forces in Afghanistan could be diverted to Russia. He did not provide a definitive confirmation, but the topic remained a focal point in discussions about the aftermath of the withdrawal and the security implications for U.S. partners and allies.