The Taliban took possession of equipment left behind at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, according to a reporter who stayed behind following the end of the U.S. withdrawal.
“We’re here right now with the Taliban as they enter … what was only minutes ago … an American-controlled portion of the military airport,” Nabih Bulos, a foreign correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, said in a video posted to Twitter. “Now, they’ve taken over.”
Taliban fighters, dressed in U.S. military uniforms, can be seen in the video inspecting Chinook helicopters and wielding U.S. weapons as they patrol the airport, which was previously under U.S. control amid efforts to evacuate thousands from the country.
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The Pentagon announced the last C-17 carrying U.S. service members departed the airport at approximately 3:29 p.m. EDT Monday, meeting President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline and ending the longest war in the history of the United States.
#Taliban fighters enter a hangar in #Kabul Airport and examine #chinook helicopters after #US leaves #Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/flJx0cLf0p
— Nabih (@nabihbulos) August 30, 2021
In total, the U.S. military gave the Afghan military and security forces approximately $83 billion in training and equipment.
U.S. service members reportedly destroyed some of their own weapons while departing Afghanistan, fearing the equipment could fall into Taliban hands.
It is unclear just how much of that equipment, including armored vehicles, rifles, tactical gear, and even aircraft, is in the hands of the Taliban, though the group has demonstrated possession of some U.S. equipment. On Aug. 21, an image emerged of members of an elite Taliban unit, wearing U.S. military gear, apparently mocking the famous World War II image of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima in Japan.
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said American forces in Kabul had to leave behind dozens of armored Humvees, aircraft, and the C-RAM system that was used to shoot down rockets targeted at the airport in previous days, according to Fox News.
But McKenzie said the equipment was disabled and no longer mission capable.
Along with the equipment, McKenzie said there are U.S. citizens, numbering in “the very low hundreds,” who remain in the Taliban-controlled country.
Celebratory gunfire from #Taliban fighters shooting tracer rounds into #Kabul‘s night sky after #US withdrawal. pic.twitter.com/4dhrHz7CNw
— Nabih (@nabihbulos) August 30, 2021
“We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out,” he said at the end of the evacuation operations, adding that he believed the remaining U.S. citizens would be able to leave the country.
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As of Monday, the U.S. has evacuated more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan, roughly 6,000 of whom were U.S. citizens and their families.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Monday night that fewer than “200, likely closer to 100” U.S. citizens who wanted to leave the country remain in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal. The administration has said it will try to help get them out, though officials acknowledge continued evacuation efforts remain unclear.
