Fri 25 November 2022:
Since taking power a year ago, the Taliban’s defense ministry has put recently repaired equipment to the test, much of it left behind, by Western militaries.
According to Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Inayatullah Khawarizmi, the Afghan Air Force has repaired 70 damaged military planes and helicopters, given to the previous government of President Ashraf Ghani, by the US and its allied forces.
U.S. troops destroyed more than 70 aircraft and dozens of armoured vehicles and disabled air defences, before flying out of Kabul’s airport, following a chaotic evacuation operation.
Around 600 pilots and technicians left the country, during the Kabul power transition last year. However, 40 of them have since returned home, according to the Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman.
The defence ministry also said in a statement, that its engineering team had recently repaired 35 tanks, 15 Humvee armoured vehicles and 20 U.S.-produced Navistar 7000 military vehicles.
According to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the US transferred over $28 billion, in defense articles and services to the Afghan government, between 2002 and 2017, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, night-vision devices, aircraft, and surveillance systems.
Some of the aircraft were flown into neighbouring Central Asian countries, by fleeing Afghan forces a year ago, but the Taliban inherited left-over aircraft. It remains unclear how many are operational.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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