Pakistani militants are reportedly using US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan
US military equipment left behind in the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan has ended up in the hands of Pakistani militants, the country’s prime minister claimed on Monday.
The high-tech equipment, which may include firearms with laser and thermal targeting systems, is reportedly used by the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, in clashes with Pakistani security, forces that have intensified in recent months.
Pakistani Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said the development was “a new challenge”. Meeting with reporters on Monday in Islamabad.
Kakar argued that a “coordinated approach” must be taken to combat the threat posed to Pakistan by abandoned US military equipment, adding that Pakistani security forces would continue to “defend our homes, our children, mosques and places of worship.” .
The Pakistani Taliban are allies but not affiliated with the Afghan Taliban.
Pakistani security officials believe the militant group either received the equipment or bought it from its Afghan allies.
Pakistani Taliban fighters have been able to use their new weapons to attack security forces from afar, which they were previously unable to do, a Pakistani official told the Associated Press.
More than $7 billion worth of US-supplied military equipment — including Humvees, mine-resistant MRAPs, military aircraft and ammunition — was in the hands of the Western-backed Afghan government in August 2021, following the withdrawal of the Biden Government from the Afghan government collapsed country, according to the inspector general of the defense ministry.
Some 316,260 small arms — including rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers and howitzers — along with communications, explosives detection, night vision and other surveillance equipment were also in the Kabul government’s inventory when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan.
Islamabad has also expressed concern that Pakistani Taliban fighters have found shelter from the Afghan Taliban across the border, allowing them to evade capture by Pakistani security forces.
