The Taliban released a propaganda video featuring its fighters donning stolen US military uniforms and gears.
With a musical soundtrack, the clip was aired on propaganda channels affiliated with the group and seemed to mock the iconic World War II photo of soldiers raising the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945.
Badri 313 Battalion of the Taliban recreated the famed photo. In their version, insurgents are seen carrying the Taliban flag in the same way while wearing US uniforms and US-made assault rifles stolen from allied militaries.
The weapons and uniforms worn by the men appear to be stolen from stockpiles that US special forces gave to the Afghan army between 2002 and 2017.
The Badri 313, a special unit of Taliban fighters that are highly trained and equipped with military equipment, can be seen wearing helmets with night-vision goggles, bulletproof vests, and modern combat boots, and wielding M4 and M-16 rifles.
“Everything that hasn’t been destroyed is the Taliban’s now,” one official told Reuters.
The Deputy Director of the Center for International Policy’s Security Assistance Monitor, Elias Yousif, argues that the seizure of US weaponry is a propaganda move.
“When an armed group gets their hands on American-made weaponry, it’s sort of a status symbol. It’s a psychological win,” he told The Hill.
“Clearly, this is an indictment of the U.S. security cooperation enterprise broadly. It really should raise a lot of concerns about what is the wider enterprise that is going on every single day, whether that’s in the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia.”
White House national security Jake Sullivan also said: “We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban.
“And obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.”
Analysts believe that the Badri 313 will grow in the next few months.
What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments section and SHARE this story with your friends and family!