It's no secret that President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan was a disaster but — months after the last military flight departed Kabul and left Americans to fend for themselves — Americans now have a better idea of how much equipment Biden's supposedly successful withdrawal left behind.
According a Department of Defense report that was required by Congress on the withdrawal and, more specifically, what wasn't withdrawn, there's $7.12 billion worth of military equipment now in Taliban hands out of the $18.6 billion worth of equipment given to Afghan forces that the Pentagon doesn't plan to retrieve or destroy.
CNN, which obtained the report, detailed its contents that "will serve to refocus attention on the chaotic and hasty" Biden exit from Afghanistan:
Aircraft worth $923.3 million remained in Afghanistan. The US left 78 aircraft procured for the government of Afghanistan at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul before the end of the withdrawal. These aircraft were demilitarized and rendered inoperable before the US military left, the report states. The US military conducted its non-combatant evacuation from Afghanistan in August, primarily through that airport.
A total of 9,524 air-to-ground munitions, valued at $6.54 million, remained in Afghanistan at the conclusion of the US military withdrawal. The "significant majority" of the "remaining aircraft munitions stock are non-precision munitions," the report states.
Over 40,000 of the total 96,000 military vehicles the US gave to Afghan forces remained in Afghanistan at the time of the US withdrawal, including 12,000 military Humvees, the report states. "The operational condition of the remaining vehicles" in Afghanistan is "unknown," the report states.
More than 300,000 of the total 427,300 weapons the US gave to Afghan forces remained in Afghanistan at the time of the US military withdrawal, according to the report. Less than 1,537,000 of the "specialty munitions" and "common small arms ammunition," valued at a total of $48 million, are still in the country, the report states.
"Nearly all" of the communications equipment that the US gave to Afghan forces, including base-station, mobile, man-portable and hand-held commercial and military radio systems, and associated transmitters and encryption devices also remained in Afghanistan at the time of the withdrawal, the report states.
"Nearly all" night vision, surveillance, "biometric and positioning equipment" totaling nearly 42,000 pieces of specialized equipment remained in the country, the report adds.
And "nearly all," of the explosive ordinance disposal and demining equipment, including 17,500 "pieces of explosive detection, electronic countermeasure, disposal and personal protective equipment" also remained in Afghanistan, according to the report.
But, as with most things Biden mucks up, it's unlikely the White House will accept any responsibility and congressional Democrats will attempt to brush the disaster aside as they try to piece together a case for why voters should keep them in power after November's midterms.
Here’s a prediction. Senate Democrats will completely ignore this report, hold no oversight hearings, and keep on pretending the Afghanistan debacle never happened https://t.co/RvzvmwowN4
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 28, 2022