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Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Did the US leave behind military gear in Afghanistan worth billions of dollars?

Friday, August 20, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

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YES

Over the past two decades, the U.S. spent an estimated $83 billion training and arming Afghan security forces. After taking control of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, the Taliban effectively gained ownership of the forces’ military arsenal.

While it is unclear exactly how many weapons were obtained, a U.S. official told Reuters that intelligence assessments place the Taliban’s cache at “more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including U.S. Humvees, and up to 40 aircraft potentially including UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones.”

Retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel said that the large hardware are “more like trophies” given their intensive maintenance and training needs. There is more concern about the easier-to-use arms, which include assault rifles, machine guns, mortars, howitzers, communication equipment and night-vision goggles.

In 2014, the Islamic State group similarly gained firepower as it advanced in Iraq, capturing the Iraqi forces’ U.S.-supplied weapons.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Reuters Planes, guns, night-vision goggles: The Taliban’s new US-made war chest

AP News Billions spent on Afghan army ultimately benefited Taliban

Defense News The Taliban have access to US military aircraft. Now what happens?

Statista The Afghan military's catastrophic equipment losses (since June 2021 as of July 5)

Combating Terrorism Center at West Point (Jan. 2021) Afghanistan’s security forces versus the Taliban: A net assessment

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.