The US Is Bombing Its Equipment That Has Been Captured by the Taliban

"Defense officials said the US is authorized to bomb Afghanistan until the end of the month, and they don’t expect airstrikes to continue after that"

As the Taliban is rapidly advancing in Afghanistan, the US has stepped up airstrikes in the country. A Pentagon official told NBC News that the US is conducting one to five airstrikes a day in Afghanistan. Most of the strikes are targeting equipment the Taliban has seized from the Afghan military, including equipment and weapons provided by the US.

US airstrikes have destroyed tanks, MRAPs, humvees, and D30 artillery pieces. US airstrikes have also killed civilians. In one instance in Lashkar Gah, the US bombed a health clinic and a school, killing 20.

The NBC report said the strikes are being carried out primarily by drones flown from neighboring countries, although the US did send flight crews back into Kabul to conduct manned bombings. Defense officials said the US is authorized to bomb Afghanistan until the end of the month, and they don’t expect airstrikes to continue after that.

Since President Biden ordered the withdrawal, Pentagon officials have been scrambling for ways to keep the war going by maintaining the ability to bomb the country and keeping a small troop presence. But the Taliban is snatching up territory quicker than the US expected, and now Washington predicts Kabul will fall within 90 days.

US officials have conceded that limited US airstrikes without a significant ground presence will do little to reverse Taliban gains. One official told NBC that the strikes are not having a “strategic impact on the fight between the Afghan military and the Taliban.”

The Pentagon has deployed 3,000 troops to Kabul to help evacuate some embassy staff. The US is urging the Taliban not to attack the embassy in the event of an attack on Kabul and is even leveraging the idea of future foreign aid for a Taliban-dominated government, another sign the US is beginning to accept defeat in Afghanistan.

Source: Antiwar.com

19 Comments
  1. GMC says

    LOL If you could see the rows of Humvees and Oshkosh b Gosh armoured vehicles that were left behind, you would want to cover your ass and say something like the Pentagon is saying – 2.
    Had they been smart, they would have offered some vehicles and weapons to one of the Stan countries, that is next to Afghanistan= { better relations}, but this how stupid you get when you are hooked on Poppy farms and Drug money.
    Even the Afghan Government that invited the Soviets, in 80s, lasted a couple years after the Soviets left. Of course the Soviets really did help train a real Afghan Army – the US Military did not because they were only there for the drug money, rare earth mineral, and other secret BS. Americans should ask for the trillions back from the Pentagon. Good article A E – thanks.

    1. Hank says

      The USA had its 1776 moment but when it comes to the rest of the world- NO GO!!!

      1. Eileen Kuch says

        Yes, Hank, the US had its 1776 moment, alright; but when it comes to the rest of the world – NO GO!! How right you are.

    2. Raptar Driver says

      Lots of people in this area make a good living off of Oshkosh truck.
      Blood money?

      1. GMC says

        Hell, I went to college there – 68 to 69 { I had roots in Wisc. } then got a bad lottery # and pulled the pin and became a SE Asia War Participant – lol

        1. GGGG says

          Thank you for your service

    3. Steven Rowlandson says

      Evidently military ops outside of the USA is a poor investment of American blood and credit and needs to be curtailed.

    4. Eileen Kuch says

      GMC, you’re absolutely right, and I fully agree. Had the Pentagon been smart, they would’ve offered some vehicles and weapons to one of the neighboring countries; but this is indeed how stupid they get when they’re hooked on Poppy farms and Drug money.
      As you said, even the Afghan government that invited the Soviets in the 80’s lasted a couple of years after the Soviets left. Of course the Soviets actually did help train a real Afghan Army – the US Military didn’t because they were only there for the Drug money, rare earth material, and other secret BS. Really, Americans ought to demand the trillions back from the Pentagon. Great article, AE – thank you.

  2. ken says

    The equipment and arms left behind will have to be replaced. This always happens in a rout. More money for the MIC!

  3. Sally Snyder says

    Here is an article which outlines the high cost of the war in Afghanistan:

    https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-high-cost-of-war-in-afghanistan.html

    The upper floor, corner office dwellers in America’s defense industry would say that the 20 year war was a resounding success, particularly when it came to their personal finances.

  4. Raptar Driver says

    It’s called a write off.

    1. yuri says

      rat driver typical shallow amerikan—rats never change
      “as on digs deeper into the national character of amerikans one sees they have sought the value of everything in this world according to the answer to a single question: how much money will it bring in?” Tocqueville

  5. XSFRGR says

    We did exactly the same thing to the equipment that we left in Vietnam. I wonder if we’ll have lots of video of our people loading helicopters hovering over roof tops.

  6. yuri says

    amerikan immorality and incompetence

  7. yuri says

    All sociologists have long described amerikans as “mean and bitter”—this derives from their peculiar backward social values—money worship which as Meszaros observes destroys the authority of the father
    “only in America is the father vestigial: the amerikan mind and conscience is feminine”. Geoffrey Gorer
    Schopenhaur among many eloquently examined the immorality of the female character
    amerikans!

  8. Francois P Jerins says

    The military left billions of dollars worth of equipment for the afghans and they turn it over to the Taliban. WTF!?!?! Everything Trump did has been dismantled by this Cadaver dead head Biden.

  9. Bobby says

    Even in WW2 the big bad Nazi’s evacuated as many German nationals out of the commmunist Russians hands that they could. Biden is pathetic.

  10. SanityClaus says

    THE BRITISH EMPIRE NATO HEROIN MAFIA OWNS ISLAM.
    AFGHANISTAN IS STILL A BRITISH EMPIRE NATO HEROIN MAFIA COUNTRY.
    THE NEW AND IMPROVED TALIBAN IS A HEROIN MAFIA VERSION OF THE TALIBAN.
    THEY ARE ARMED BY THE PENTAGON BABY KILLER HEROIN PUSHERS WHO WIPE THEIR ASS WITH OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

  11. Berserker Screed says

    War what is it good for?????
    http://www.supremelaw.org/authors/dodd/interview.htm
    And the question is this: Is there any means known more effective than war, assuming you wish to alter the life of an entire people? And they conclude that, no more effective means to that end is known to humanity, than war.

    How much have American ideals and values and finances changed since 1909 when this started with how many wars for “phreeDumb”?
    And all the perpetrators aren’t christians…

Reply To Sally Snyder
Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Anti-Empire