Large US weapons stockpiles discovered in Afghanistan: Report

ByNews Desk The Cradle

The weapons were reportedly left hidden by US troops to be used in case they were redeployed to the country

Local sources in Afghanistan say that the Taliban has discovered two large weapon stockpiles left hidden by US forces in the towns of Mazer-e-Sharif and Herat.

The caches contained hundreds of thousands of bullets, weapons, missiles and spare helicopter parts.

They were allegedly left in the country as part of a contingency plan in case US troops are redeployed to the country, according to a report by British media.

The discovery of the weapon stockpiles came on the same day that the US Secretary of Defense acknowledged the Taliban’s flash victory in Afghanistan last month took officials by surprise.

“The fact that the Afghan army we and our partners trained simply melted away, in many cases without firing a shot, took us all by surprise,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

During the hearing, both Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, admitted they recommended leaving 2,500 US troops in Afghanistan to President Joe Biden, but Biden refused.

On 15 August, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan after a 20-year war that left hundreds of thousands dead and cost Washington at least $2.3 trillion.

Following their defeat, US forces staged a hasty and chaotic withdrawal from the country that saw people clinging to the undercarriage of military aircraft before plunging to their deaths.