US abandoned $7B of military equipment in Afghanistan: report

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Roughly $7 billion worth of military equipment transferred to the deposed Afghan government was left behind during the US's chaotic withdrawal from the country in August, according to a report published on Thursday.

The Pentagon does not plan to conduct any operations to "retrieve or destroy” the equipment, according to a congressionally-mandated report reviewed by CNN that was dated March 2022.

“The $7.12 billion figure cited in the Department’s recent report to Congress corresponds to ANDSF equipment and not U.S. military equipment used by our forces,” Army Major Rob Lodewick, a Defense Department spokesperson, told CNN. He was referring to the former government's military forces.

“Nearly all equipment used by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan was either retrograded or destroyed prior to our withdrawal and is not part of the ‘$7.12 billion’ figure cited in the report," he added.

According to the report, five Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters that were in Afghanistan were transferred to Ukraine. They had been in the eastern European country for repairs prior to the US's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Other equipment originally destined for Afghanistan has also been sent to Ukraine, including 37,000 122mm howitzer artillery rounds, 15 million rounds of Ball rifle ammunition, over 99,000 40mm high-explosive/fragmentation grenade cartridges, and about 119,000 82mm high-explosive mortar round, according to the report.

Some $923.3 million worth of aircraft equipment was left behind in Afghanistan, including 78 aircraft bought for the internationally-recognized Afghan government that fell to the Taliban. They were at Kabul's international airport, and were "rendered inoperable" before US forces departed.

Some 9,524 air-to-ground munitions, most of which were not precision weapons, were also abandoned.