The Taliban seized an air force worth tens of millions of pounds, including US-bought helicopters and attack planes, giving them more aerial firepower than a third of Nato members. Taliban chiefs are reported to have ordered their troops to hunt down pilots from the disbanded Afghan Air Force, who received expensive training from the US and its allies in how to fly the aircraft. The Afghan Air Force was operating aircraft, including helicopters and 59 planes, according to an official U. Before Kabul fell, Uzbekistan confirmed that 46 Afghan aircraft, including 24 helicopters, had arrived in the country in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Taliban. The commander of the US evacuation mission, Gen. Frank McKenzie, said American troops disabled 73 aircraft before finally leaving the country on Monday night.
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The Taliban's new armoury of US-made equipment includes planes, guns and night-vision goggles. Follow our live coverage for the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic. For decades, Taliban militants have fought American war planes and armoured vehicles with mostly Kalashnikovs, improvised explosives and ground missiles. But with the fall of Kabul they have a new armoury, and it's mostly care of the United States. The US spent billions supplying the Afghan military with the tools to defeat the Taliban, but the rapid fall of Kabul and other major cities has left most of that weaponry in the hands of the insurgents. Those weapons are now being brandished across Taliban social media as fighters pose with American-made rifles and vehicles are seen loaded with heavy weapons and mounted with artillery guns. Video showed insurgents inspecting long lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear and even military drones. Here's a look at some of the war booty the Afghan army left behind as they fled, surrendered or defected to the Taliban. Forbes reported that in the month of June alone, the Taliban captured trucks and Humvees from the Afghan security forces as well as dozens of armoured vehicles and artillery systems. The Taliban has also inherited 11 well-planned military bases equipped with the latest weapons and gadgets as well as its own air force.
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Kabul: The Taliban terrorists are not only torturing civilians in the regions they are capturing in Afghanistan but also forcefully marrying young women and teens of the area with their fighters, media reports said. There has been a surge in Taliban violence in Afghanistan as foreign forces started leaving the country. The Daily Mail reported that whenever the extremists capture a new town or district, they issue orders through the speakers of local mosques for the names of wives and widows of all local government and police personnel to be handed over. Amid rising violence in the country, several nations, including Britain, US and India, have asked its citizens to leave Afghanistan. Afghanistan: Taliban forcefully marrying young women, teens to their fighters as 'war booty' India Blooms News Service indiablooms 11 Aug , pm.
When Taliban fighters rode triumphantly into Kabul airport early Tuesday, they did so on U. Then they spent hours examining the bonanza of materiel that U. With a gloved hand, he snapped up the night-vision goggles on his ballistic helmet, looking like the very model of an Afghan soldier the U. He walked inside a hangar and gawked with his squad mates at the U. Embassy helicopters gleaming under powerful overhead lights.