Pakistan’s president asserts militants currently control US military hardware that was abandoned in Afghanistan

The interim prime minister of Pakistan alleged on Monday that US military hardware left behind following the American pullout from Afghanistan had ended up in the hands of terrorists and eventually found its way to the Pakistani Taliban.

According to Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, the arsenal, which consists of a broad range of materials from night vision goggles to rifles, is now “emerging as a new challenge” for Islamabad since it has improved the Pakistani Taliban’s ability to fight.

Over the last several months, assaults against Pakistan’s security forces have increased by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. Despite being a different terrorist organization, they support the Afghan Taliban.

In the middle of August 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan as US and NATO forces were frantically withdrawing from the nation after 20 years of conflict. The US-backed and trained Afghan military disintegrated in the face of the Taliban invasion.

The Taliban captured US-supplied weapons, taking guns, ammo, helicopters, and other cutting-edge military hardware from Afghan troops who turned it over. It is unclear how much US equipment was left behind. US defense authorities have acknowledged its importance despite the fact that no one is certain of its actual worth.

Kakar did not provide any proof to back up his claim or establish a clear connection between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP when he spoke to a small group of journalists at his office on Monday in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. To address the issue of the residual equipment, he added, a “coordinated approach” was required.

Kakar also did not criticize the Afghan Taliban, despite Islamabad’s efforts to function as a point of contact and mediator between the international world and the new Kabul authorities, who have come under fire for the strict laws they have put in place since taking power.

The Associated Press was informed by two security officials in Islamabad that the TTP either acquired the weaponry from the Afghan Taliban or was given it as an ally. The authorities discussed the matter while requesting anonymity.

In recent months, the Pakistani Taliban have also made comments and videos, claiming to have weapons with laser and infrared sighting systems, among other things.

Without going into detail, one of the officers said that TTP members no longer exclusively use AK-47 assault rifles; instead, they now engage Pakistani forces at a distance.

Although, as Kakar said, “to defend our home, children, mosques and places of worship,” Pakistani security forces will keep up the struggle against extremists.

Kakar, 52, was sworn in as Pakistan’s youngest prime minister to lead an interim administration last month. Up to the next legislative elections, his cabinet will oversee daily operations. The election, which was supposed to take place in October or November, is likely to be postponed until at least January 2024 because Pakistan’s elections supervision agency claims it needs time to redraft constituencies in order to take into account the most recent census figures.

Since the TTP unilaterally ended a cease-fire in November, Kakar ruled out any discussions between the government and the terrorist group.

Islamabad claims that since the Taliban seized control of the country next door, TTP members have received more and more refuge from the Afghan Taliban, straining ties between Islamabad and Kabul.

After the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Pakistan was one of Washington’s most important allies in the fight against terrorism. Even as its political unrest worsens, this nation with a majority of Muslims is also experiencing one of the greatest economic crises.

At his press conference, Kakar also emphasized that all political parties will be permitted to take part in the next elections, including the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf opposition party of the now-incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Kakar said, “We are only here to support the electoral process.”

Khan, who is not permitted to participate in the elections since he is serving a three-year jail sentence for corruption, was not specifically mentioned by him. Khan, who was overthrown in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, is still the top opposition figure in the nation.