US surrendered unconditionally to Taliban in Afghanistan: House committee chairman

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul repeated the specifics of colossal failure of US-led invasion of Afghanistan that started in 2001 and ended with abrupt withdrawal of the American forces in August 2021. At a hearing about Biden administration’s planning for the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, McCaul said that the idea of lowering the number of troops to 650 was "insane,” that "12,000 prisoners" including "suicide bombers" and "ISIS-K" were released from Bagram prison.

While confirming Pentagon's earlier reports of the US forces leaving "$7 billion of equipment" in Afghanistan, McCaul added that this left out equipment is being sold to the US adversaries and terrorist nations.

Bagram was the centre of US operations in Afghanistan during its two-decade long presence in the country.

"This unconditional withdrawal, I call it unconditional surrender to the Taliban who now have taken over Afghanistan," he said.

"China now is there for God’s sake, and the lithium," he said. "China will probably get access to Bagram."

What all equipment US left in Afghanistan?

According to a Pentagon report, the United States gave a total of $18.6 billion of equipment to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) — that quickly collapsed as the US edged closer to its withdrawal from Afghanistan — between 2005 and August 2021.

Of that total, equipment worth $7.12 billion remained in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal was completed on August 30, 2021. It included aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment and other materials.

Aircraft worth $923.3 million remained in Afghanistan, according to a US defence department report.

Washingtonleft 78 aircraft procured for the government of Afghanistan at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport before the end of the withdrawal.

These aircraft were reportedly demilitarised and rendered inoperable before the US military left, the report stated.

A total of 9,524 air-to-ground munitions, valued at $6.54 million, remained in Afghanistan at the conclusion of the US military withdrawal. The "significant majority" of the "remaining aircraft munitions stock are non-precision munitions," the report claimed.

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