Taliban Controls M4 Assault Rifles And US Black Hawk Helicopters, The Pentagon Will Take Action

The Taliban military aboard the Humvee military vehicle which is very iconic to the US military. (Twitter/@PrimoRadical)

JAKARTA - Photos and videos of Taliban militia carrying firearms and boarding Black Hawk helicopters from the United States (US), which have been widely circulated on social media after successfully taking control of Afghanistan, are said to have tarnished the White House.

The Taliban managed to seize large amounts of weapons, equipment and ammunition from the Afghan armed forces, most of which was supplied over the last two decades by Washington.

Social media shows Taliban fighters carrying M4 and M18 assault rifles, M24 sniper rifles, driving around the iconic US Humvee and, in one video, apparently wearing US-style special forces tactical uniforms.

Afghan troops are known to receive two decades of military training, as well as tens of billions of US dollars in funding from Uncle Sam's country. Apart from that, NATO also assists in providing training to Afghan forces.

"We don't have a complete, clear picture of where each article of defense material has gone. But certainly, quite a lot of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban", White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last Tuesday, citing CNA, August 19.

Taliban soldiers wearing US military tactical helmets. (Twitter/@PrimoRadical)

"Obviously, we don't have the feeling that they will easily hand it over to us", continued Sullivan.

According to official figures, the US military supplied Afghan soldiers with more than 7.000 machine guns, 4.700 Humvees, and 20.000 grenades in recent years.

Afghanistan has also received artillery and reconnaissance drones from Washington, as well as more than 200 aircraft, both fixed-wing, and helicopter. However, their continued operations rely heavily on US technical support and spare parts.

According to photos published on Wednesday by Janes, a defense specialist, about 40 Afghan military aircraft were flown to Uzbekistan over the past week, to evade Taliban attacks, including five UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and 16 Russian Mi-17 and 10 A helicopters - 29 Super Tucano attack aircraft.

Meanwhile, in a 16-month drawdown, the Pentagon removed a significant amount of its own equipment from Afghanistan, handing some of it to the Afghan army.

However, the hardware supplied to Afghan forces now in the hands of the Taliban has raised concerns. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said yesterday the department is looking into the matter.

Taliban soldiers in a US Black Hawk helicopter. (Twitter/@PrimoRadical)

"We clearly don't want to see our equipment in the hands of those who will act against our interests, or the interests of the Afghan people", Kirby told reporters.

"There are many policy options that can be taken, up to destruction", he continued about the actions to be taken regarding US weapons falling into the hands of the Taliban, without elaborating.

The weapons and vehicles seized by the Afghan military have only expanded the Taliban's power in a limited way, experts say.

"The most dangerous weapons the Taliban have captured are the D-30 howitzers and Afghan Air Force assets", said Jonathan Schroden, director of the Threat and Challenge Countermeasures Program at CNA, a Washington security consultancy.

"It's not clear if they have the capability to use all the aerial platforms they catch, but they have demonstrated the ability to use the howitzer".

Even then, that makes them a limited direct threat to their better-armed neighbors.

On the other hand, the large amounts of small arms and ammunition they inherited, Schroden said, could "be found in different parts of the world and in various other terrorist groups".

"Perhaps the best thing the US can do at this point is to work with neighboring Afghanistan, to try and prohibit the transport of this equipment across the country's borders", he suggested.