The weapons we left behind

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: arming the Taliban.

The humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan is not the only consequence of the botched U.S. military pullout there.

As the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, not only are the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan, but they are now a modernized fighting force, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.

They’re now armed with U.S. military vehicles, aircraft, and weaponry left behind by Afghan government forces. Republican lawmakers say the extremist group now has access to more than $85 billion of American equipment.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Some Taliban fighters have even been seen in propaganda videos wearing U.S.-made military uniforms, helmets, flak jackets, even the wraparound sunglasses typically worn by U.S. troops. And they were all carrying American M4 automatic rifles.

They seized the gear from U.S. stockpiles left behind by special forces for the Afghan army.

Joining us now to discuss the impact of the U.S. weapons seized by the Taliban is retired Army Special Forces Col. Steve Bucci. He is also former deputy assistant secretary of defense under President George W. Bush.

Colonel, good morning!

STEVE BUCCI, GUEST: Good morning. Thank you for having me on the show.

BROWN: Colonel, Republican House leaders held a press conference this week. Congressman Jim Banks is an Afghanistan veteran who serves on the Armed Services Committee. He said the Taliban now has access to 75,000 U.S. vehicles, more than 200 aircraft, and more than 600,000 small arms and light weapons, among other things.

How will this change the threat that the Taliban poses?

BUCCI: Well, the main thing it will do is the Taliban will now be—or are—the most well-equipped and well-funded militant group in the world. I would say they're probably close to competing with Hezbollah, who have a direct pipeline from the country of Iran. But, it's, first of all, going to play heck for the people in Afghanistan, who will be the direct recipients of the violence that the Taliban can now use. But I'm afraid some of it is going to start getting exported as well.

BROWN: What is the propaganda value of this to the Taliban?

BUCCI: Well, the propaganda value is tremendous. Remember, these folks portray themselves as servants of God, that they are doing this because God wants them to. And any victory for them is a validation to their followers, to people who might be on the fence, that they are indeed blessed by God. And now they've got a bunch of totems that they can hold up or ride around in to show people just how awesome they really are. You know, I don't believe any of that. But that's the way they will spin it and it'll have some resonance around the third world—particularly in the Muslim communities—that these guys are now the big dogs on the block. So they're going to leverage this heavily, both to show our weakness and to show their strength.

BROWN: Now, the Taliban can put things like armored vehicles, rifles, and night vision goggles to immediate use, but what about something like a Black Hawk helicopter. Do they have the necessary skills to make use of something like that?

BUCCI: Not to my knowledge. They've never had aircraft before of any kind, let alone cutting edge American aircraft. They possibly could recruit some of the pilots that we trained, but those guys to the Taliban are considered the enemy because they cooperated with us. And they're just as likely to kill them as they are to try and recruit them.

And to be honest with you, American aircraft are actually pretty persnickety when it comes to maintenance. Every hour that a Blackhawk helicopter flies, it requires several hours of pretty intense maintenance to make it fly again. So I'm not sure that the Taliban have that capability.

So, I think if the Taliban managed to fly some of those Blackhawks, they probably wouldn't stay in the air very long.
My concern with the Blackhawks is they're going to sell them to somebody else—either to Iran who could probably try and figure it out, perhaps other terrorist groups or even to China.

BROWN: I’ve heard some talk about possible U.S. airstrikes specifically aimed at taking out U.S.-made vehicles and weapons caches that have fallen into Taliban hands. Do you think that will happen and would it be effective?

BUCCI: It could happen. But I have to be honest with you that that's pretty reckless in that there's a number of Americans still there, other Western allies, personnel still there, and our friends. We could take out that equipment, but then the Taliban might not even wait until the 31st to start executing people. They might just go right at it. So, frankly, I don't think President Biden will do it because it will put too many people at risk just to get rid of the equipment.

If we had everybody out and everybody was safe, then I think it might be a more viable option. Not going to be total. It's not going to be comprehensive. You’re talking about large numbers of pieces of equipment that can be dispersed pretty readily. You just drive them away from the parking lots, and they'll get a lot harder to find and hit. And then there's the final issue involved in that of collateral damage. You know, who's living next to those equipment facilities? And if we start bombing them, are we going to be hitting civilians, as well as Taliban targets?

BROWN: Steve Bucci with Heritage Foundation has been our guest. Colonel, thanks so much!

BUCCI: It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

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