Afghanis are opening gun shops as they are buying up pistols, rifles, grenades, and night vision goggles. They are able to do that because the Taliban do no longer need to gather as many weapons from the former Afghan army, thanks to Joe Biden’s complete surrender to them. The New York Times was able to get some of the gun dealers to talk to them.
The Times reports,
“In interviews, three weapons dealers in Kandahar said that dozens of Afghans have set up weapons shops in Afghanistan’s south, selling American-made pistols, rifles, grenades, binoculars and night-vision goggles. The equipment was originally provided to the Afghan security forces under a U.S. training and assistance program that cost American taxpayers more than $83 billion through two decades of war.”
“During the insurgency, the Taliban eagerly sought out American-supplied weapons and gear. But now much of that weaponry is being sold to Afghan entrepreneurs because Taliban demand has eased with the end of combat, the gun merchants said. They say that many gun dealers have smuggled the weapons to Pakistan, where demand for American-made weapons is strong.”
The Pentagon claims that they made the more sophisticated weapons inoperable, which is doubtful since the Taliban made a point of displaying them to the world. But, thousands of the smaller weapons were left behind. The Taliban claims that none of the weapons they confiscated were sold, other Taliban fighters say that some have been sold. They could have been picked up by people other than the Taliban. Some have been smuggled to Pakistan, where there is a huge demand for them.
“Since 2005, the U.S. military has provided the Afghan national defense and security forces with many thousands of small arms, ranging from pistols to medium machine guns,” Maj. Rob Lodewick, a Defense Department spokesman, said in a statement to The Times.
The Taliban’s official spokesperson has denied selling the weapons, however.
In an interview with The New York Times, a Taliban spokesman, Bilal Karimi, said that weapons were not for sale. “I totally deny this; our fighters cannot be that careless,” he said. “Even a single person cannot sell a bullet in the market or smuggle it.”
Karimi added that captured weapons “are all listed, verified and are all saved and secure under the Islamic Emirate for the future army.”
Other members of the Taliban have admitted that the weapons made their way to the market.
