NEW YORK, Apr 16 (Alliance News): A major American newspaper, The Washington Post, has confirmed Pakistan’s long-standing concern that sophisticated American weapons abandoned during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan are now being used in cross-border attacks by terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil.
In a detailed investigative report, the paper revealed that advanced U.S.-made arms, including M4A1 carbines and night-vision devices, are now in the possession of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch insurgents, and were used in attacks such as the deadly bombing of the Jaffer Express train in Balochistan last month.
“Many of the weapons wound up across the border in Pakistan, at arms bazaars and in the hands of insurgents,” the report stated, underscoring the ongoing consequences of the U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Post confirmed, through serial numbers and U.S. Army records, that some of the recovered weapons had originally been provided to Afghan forces. Pakistani authorities granted access to dozens of seized weapons, including M16 rifles, modern M4 carbines, and PVS14 night-vision goggles—some of which were used to ambush Pakistani troops with deadly precision.
Pakistani officials said that these weapons, now circulating freely among terrorist networks, have reignited a wave of insurgency after years of hard-won gains in counterterrorism.
Quoting Pakistani Army officials and a special forces constable wounded in an ambush, the report said, “They [militants] could see us, but we couldn’t see them.”
The paper noted that U.S. oversight of military equipment in Afghanistan was lax, with the Pentagon reportedly leaving behind over $7 billion worth of equipment. A 2023 SIGAR report estimated that more than 250,000 rifles and nearly 18,000 night-vision devices were left in Taliban-controlled territory.
Weapons bazaars along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, such as Darra Adamkhel, reportedly witnessed a boom in American weapons trade following the U.S. exit. Militant commanders confirmed benefiting from the influx of cheap, high-quality weapons.
The report also cited a U.N. assessment which concluded that the Taliban’s rank and file are directly supplying arms and equipment to Pakistani terrorist groups like the TTP.
Responding to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for the Taliban to return U.S.-supplied arms, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid replied, “They’re now the property of Afghanistan. No one can take them away from us.”
Security experts warn that the situation could drag Pakistan back to its most violent years of terrorism unless immediate international action is taken.
