Will Trump be able to retrieve billions of dollars worth of abandoned US military equipment from Taliban?

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in 2021.

We have given a significant portion of our military vehicles over to the enemy”.

“Trump stated that in reference to humanitarian aid, “So we'll give them a couple of bucks, then we want the military equipment back.”

In 2022, the US left behind $7 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan following their withdrawal from the country, with much of it belonging to the Afghan army, a force backed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato), which was then taken by the Taliban as they conquered the country.

US forces attempted to dismantle or destroy as much of their equipment as possible - from aircraft to computer systems - during the final weeks of their chaotic withdrawal after a 20-year war presence. Nevertheless, a great deal still remained in the hands of the Taliban in August 2021 once the US-trained military collapsed and surrendered to the Islamist militants.

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However, experts say retrieving the US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan is much easier stated than accomplished.

Jason Campbell, a senior policy researcher at the RAND think tank in Washington, says the "billions of dollars" that Trump is referring to are the funds supplied by the US, which is the largest donor to humanitarian causes in Afghanistan.

Cash shipments are being carefully handled through the UN and other non-governmental organizations to provide a steady financial flow and keep millions of Afghans alive through aid, as restrictions on international banking for the Taliban remain in place.

“Everything is done to prevent what Trump is at least suggesting that the US is sending 40 million dollars to the coffers of the Taliban each month and they can then do with it whatever they want,” Campbell says

Even if administration officials advise Trump to negotiate with the Taliban to retrieve American military equipment, it will be a much more complicated process than it seems.

"He'll essentially need a team to be sent in to check out the equipment and verify its condition. His team will need to arrange for either overflight permission or other landing agreements to move the equipment. This is always going to be a concern - as it has been historically, particularly during the height of US involvement in Afghanistan - getting equipment into and out of the country," says Randall, former country director for Afghanistan in the office of the secretary of defence for policy.

In 2015, he recalls, it was more cost-effective for the US to dismantle its Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles as the Obama administration attempted to shrink its presence within Afghanistan.

It makes more sense to literally destroy an MRAP than to fly it back to the US, since it has no other immediate purpose or need outside of a war zone.

On Tuesday, the Taliban responded to Trump with an outright rejection of the suggestion that they would return any of the leftover US military equipment.

A high-ranking government official stated that rather than calling for the return of the seized weapons, the Trump administration should equip the Taliban with even more sophisticated military tools to combat the escalating terror threats in Afghanistan, including the Islamic State Khorasan (ISKP) group.

The Trump administration has not yet revealed its plans for the Taliban regime, including whether or not it will be recognized internationally, how it will secure funding through the UN and other aid organizations, and how it will protect the rights of women and girls in the country.

Government officials formerly part of the Ashraf Ghani administration in Afghanistan have swiftly rejected Trump's comments.

"The West is dancing to a tune played by America," says Ahmad Shuja Jamal, former national security council official in the Republican government.

This is also an opportunity for Trump to tell his supporters and voters that he will repair the harm done by the Biden administration, Shuja says.

"The core reason behind Trump's desire to correct America's regrettable exit from Afghanistan is because we've reached a point where the Taliban have taken control of American military equipment," he says

A former Afghan civil servant told the US president that he will soon find out that negotiations with the Taliban will be more difficult than he thinks - their influence has only grown even stronger since the 2020 withdrawal agreement, and they now have support from a group of countries including China, Russia, and even Iran.

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