The Taliban Is Selling America’s Lost Afghanistan Arsenal

February 2, 2025

Given the Taliban’s contacts during their twenty-year insurgency, it should come as little surprise that American weapons are ending up in the hands of the world’s worst rogues’ gallery.

The modern military history of the United States is one of extremes. Since 1945, America’s military engagements around the world have led to glorious victories, incredible acts of bravery, and catastrophic failures. One of those failures took place in August 2021, when former President Joe Biden presided over an unmitigated disaster while shambolically withdrawing from Afghanistan. After 20 years of fighting al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, and the Taliban, the Americans essentially handed over the country to all three groups (as well as ISIS-K) within a week.

But that was not all the Americans did for the ruling Islamist Taliban regime of Afghanistan. During the hasty withdrawal, Washington left behind armories filled with advanced American weapons and platforms (to say nothing of American tax dollars). And as the Taliban’s misrule over Afghanistan continues, those weapons have now become one of the country’s only major exports (along with heroin). Over the last two years, advanced U.S. military weapons and equipment have been found in increasing numbers in the hands of militants in places, such as Kashmir and Gaza.

Trump’s Ultimatum to the Taliban

That’s why the new Trump administration has demanded that the Taliban regime return all the American military equipment to the United States immediately. Of course, the Taliban will surely call Trump’s bluff. They are no more inclined to return the advanced U.S. weapons—even while Trump threatens military action—today than they were in 2021. It’s all war booty to them.

The Pentagon has appraised the value of U.S. military equipment left behind in Afghanistan at approximately $7 billion. A brief rundown of systems that the Taliban now possess because of the shortsighted American decision to leave the equipment behind intact includes Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk helicopters and scout attack helicopters, Humvees, ScanEagle military drones, many thousands of M16 assault rifles, M4 carbines, and in particular night-vision goggles—a technology that, even throughout the 20-year war, neither the Taliban nor their al Qaeda allies ever had.

And given the Taliban’s contacts during their twenty-year insurgency, it should come as little surprise that American weapons are ending up in the hands of the world’s worst rogues’ gallery.

Where the Guns are Going

In Kashmir, Indian counterterrorism authorities have been faced with increasingly lethal attacks by Islamist terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba (the latter of which also conducted the Mumbai Hotel terror attacks in 2008). Since 2023, Indian authorities have reported that the groups use M16 assault rifles and M4 carbines in increasing numbers, along with tranches of U.S.-made steel-core bullets.

Indian authorities have also claimed sightings of members of these two Islamist terrorist networks wearing night-vision goggles left behind by the U.S.-led NATO forces in neighboring Afghanistan. Kashmir’s geographical proximity to Afghanistan makes it more than likely that the Taliban have been gleefully selling the advanced American weapons to these jihadist groups.

Elsewhere, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have repeatedly commented on their concerns that Hamas received large amounts of U.S.-made weapons from the Taliban in the run-up to the devastating October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks. India Today reported that “just two days ahead of the Hamas attack, [the IDF] tweeted a photo of an M-16 rifle they had recovered from two terrorists who attacked an Israeli security forces vehicle.” It seems most likely that Iran, which borders Afghanistan to the west and has maintained lukewarm contacts with the Taliban government, facilitated the purchase.

And one more observation. After the horrific October 7 attacks perpetrated by Hamas against their Israeli neighbors, countless Gazans came out to celebrate the massacre in the streets. Events like that are usually full of people wielding Russian-made AK-47s, mostly smuggled in from Egypt through Hamas’ underground tunnel network. But for the first time, large numbers of people in the crowd were showing off their American made weapons. These could only have come from the Taliban.

Trump Will Have to Make the Taliban Stop

To say the least, the Taliban do not appear interested in stopping their sales of American weapons on the black market. This goes doubly for sales to fellow Islamist organizations engaged in the great jihad against their unbelieving neighbors. The presence of U.S.-made weapons in the hands of the Taliban is a dire national security threat. The Biden administration effectively, though likely inadvertently, helped to expand the Taliban’s lethality and reach tenfold by leaving such advanced and numerous American weapons behind in Afghanistan.

Now, these American weapons in the hands of the Taliban are destabilizing the world. Trump is right to threaten the Taliban with real retaliation unless they return the weapons to the United States. But since this is unlikely to occur, the Trump administration must be prepared to follow through on those threats.

About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, and a contributor at Popular Mechanics, consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.