Taliban parade American weapons left after collapse

TALIBAN forces held a military parade in Kabul yesterday using captured American armoured vehicles and Russian helicopters in a display that showed their transformation from an insurgent force to a regular standing army.

The Taliban have used the large stock of weapons and equipment left behind when the Western-backed government collapsed in August to overhaul their forces. The parade was linked to the graduation of 250 freshly trained soldiers, said Enayatullah Khwarazmi, the defence ministry spokesman.

The exercise involved dozens of Usmade M117 armoured security vehicles driving slowly up and down a major Kabul road with MI-17 helicopters patrolling overhead. Many soldiers carried American-made M4 assault rifles.

Most of the weapons and equipment the Taliban forces are now using are those supplied by Washington to the American-backed government in Kabul in an attempt to construct an Afghan national force capable of fighting the Taliban. Those forces melted away with the fleeing of President Ashraf Ghani from Afghanistan – leaving the Taliban to take over major military assets.

Taliban officials have said that pilots, mechanics and other specialists from the former Afghan National Army would be integrated into a new force, which has also started wearing conventional military uniforms in place of the traditional Afghan clothing.

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said the US transferred to the Afghan government more than $28billion (£21billion) of defence articles and services.