Weapons Left in Afghanistan Require Global Attention Since They Have Fallen into Hands of Terrorists: Pakistan – News18

Pakistan on Friday drew the world’s attention toward the danger posed by the weapons abandoned by the US following its hasty withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan, saying the weapons have reached terrorists.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said this at the weekly briefing, just two days after rebels from Afghanistan attacked a military outpost and killed four Pakistani soldiers.

“We do not blame anyone but weapons left in Afghanistan require global attention since they have fallen in the hands of terrorist groups now,” she said, adding that the issue of terrorist attacks from Afghanistan had been taken up with the Afghan interim government.

She said that Pakistan was determined to eradicate terrorism from the country while sharing concerns with the interim Afghan authorities about the recent incidents of terrorism along the border.

The statement comes as White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication John Kirby on Wednesday disagreed with the suggestion that the US had left behind about USD 7 billion worth of weapons and equipment in Afghanistan and militant groups were now using those weapons against Pakistan, the Dawn newspaper reported.

“There was no equipment left behind by American forces. There was a small amount of equipment and some aircraft at the airport when we finished our evacuation efforts, but they were all rendered unusable as we left,” he said.

“In fact, the only thing that we left that the Taliban could take advantage of was some airport mechanic capabilities: tow trucks and trucks with ladders on them, and some firefighting equipment,” he added.

Kirby explained that the equipment that people were saying the Americans left behind, was transferred to the Afghan National Security Forces before the US withdrawal.

“As the Taliban advanced on Kabul and other places throughout the country, they (official Afghan forces) abandoned that equipment, not the US,” he added.

In February 2020, the United States and the Taliban reached a deal, known as the Doha Agreement, under which the United States agreed to withdraw all US forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.

Meanwhile, the key Torkham border crossing with Afghanistan had been closed since Wednesday after clashes between security forces of the two countries, causing hardship for the people.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)