‘Taliban may seek help to use the US equipment’

Afghan people queue up to board a US military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on Friday. Pic/AFP

Over two dozen Republican senators have sought accountability from the Biden administration over billions of dollars worth of US sensitive military equipment seized by the Taliban in Afghanistan and warned about the possibility of the insurgents seeking help from countries like Russia, Pakistan, Iran and China to use them.

In the letter to Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, senators Bill Cassidy, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and 22 Senate Republicans expressed grave concern regarding the status of high-tech US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan as a result of "our poorly executed withdrawal" from the country.

The Taliban insurgents swept Kabul on Sunday after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing an unprecedented end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform the war-ravaged nation. The senators asked the Biden administration to account for taxpayer-funded American military equipment that may have fallen into the Taliban's hands after they seized Kabul on Sunday.

Billions of dollars of US weapons are now in the hands of the Taliban insurgents following the quick collapse of the Afghan security forces that were trained to use the military equipment. Among the weapons seized by the Taliban are Black Hawk helicopters and A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft. "As we watched the images coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban retook the country, we were horrified to see US equipment, including UH-60 Black Hawks, in the hands of the Taliban," Republican senators wrote in a letter to Austin on Thursday.

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No. of Senate Republicans who have expressed concern

China to help Afghanistan build mining system

China, already Afghanistan's largest foreign investor, is seen as likely to lead the race to help the country build an efficient mining system to meet its insatiable needs for minerals. A follow-up report by the Afghan government in 2017 estimated that Kabul's new mineral wealth may be as high as USD 3 trillion, including fossil fuels.

Women scribes being barred from working

Women journalists in Afghanistan said they are being barred from working by the Taliban who have overtaken control of the country and who had assured that women would be allowed to work corresponding with Sharia law. They have also asked the Taliban to respect their right to work, TOLO News reported. Shabnam Khan Dawran, an anchor at RTA said that the Taliban has not allowed her to enter her office to continue her work.

7,000 people evacuated, says Pentagon

A total of 7,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the start of evacuation operations on August 14 and over 5,200 US troops are in Kabul, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Cumulatively, the number of people moved out of Afghanistan is somewhere near 12,000. Taliban's sudden victory has sparked chaos at Kabul's airport, from where America and allied nations are trying to safely evacuate thousands of citizens and allies.

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