John Kirby actually suggested today that we shouldn’t worry about all the weapons we just gave the Taliban, because they aren’t really a big threat to anyone. Seriously.
Kirby says:
The other issue is what did we turn over to the Afghan forces as we retrograded out of the country and what they did with it. And of course we know, that there’s quite a bit of material in the batch that the Afghans had that the Taliban now have access to. There’s no question about that.
But what I would tell you about this Dana is the kinds of equipment we’re talking about, while certainly there’s a lethality component to it, it doesn’t pose a threat to the United States, it doesn’t pose a threat to neighboring nations. These are not the kinds of things that the Taliban can make great strategic use out of.
Let me just remind you what the Taliban now have ‘access to’, to use Kirby’s words:
It’s not like all of these are just cars and trucks. These are military vehicles, helicopters and airplanes with at least some armament capability. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of assault rifles and machine guns, as well as the nearly 200 artillery pieces. Sure, they may not be able to mount a full invasion of a bigger country with these assets, but they can sure as hell terrorize their own people and make a lot of problems for neighboring countries if they want.
So why haven’t we blown them up yet? Oh let me guess, we have to be nice to the Taliban so hopefully they’ll give us back the Americans BIDEN LEFT BEHIND.