As the United States moves into a post-war world now that it has pulled out of Afghanistan, the Biden administration is left to extinguish right-wing-generated rumor-mill hot spots.
Such as the one about us supposedly leaving $83 billion worth of military equipment for the Taliban to use, possibly against Americans or our allies.
The rumor is false.
That won’t stem the fake news coming from the mouths of conservative politicians and media personalities. They keep harping on the equipment left behind. They suggest that the Taliban is now the second-best equipped military force in the world — behind the U.S. of A.
According to The Associated Press:
Their $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001.
Yet that funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.
âWe did spend well over $80 billion in assistance to the Afghan security forces,â Grazier said. âBut thatâs not all equipment costs.â
In fact, only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.
FACT FOCUS: Trump, others wrong on US gear left with Taliban (msn.com)
Is that the end of it? Hardly. It only goes to underscore the public-relations battle that awaits the Biden team as it tries to keep this withdrawal in its proper perspective.
Only 18 billion! LOL And theyâre hanging people from OUR helicopters. Hate him if you will, but Trump would NOT have left Americans behind or operational equipment. He would have made damn sure the military was the last to leave. I know they ended up being the last to leave. But thatâs only because we had to send troops back in.
Ask Trump and Biden to go visit military now. Who do you think will get the best greeting???
Hey, but at least youâre not having to read mean tweets. I fact, all you get are scripted question and answer sessions. Trump answered more questions in one press conference than Biden has since inaugurated.
Iâm glad we are out. I just wish is wasnât an incompetent puppet in charge, supposedly.
I do have to retract the hanging a man part. Iâve read more and found the video was shortened. But, according to Biden, our helicopters and other equipment was rendered inoperable. I guess not.