Two weeks after capturing Afghanistan, the Taliban is keen on demonstrating its military capabilities to the rest of the world. After parading Blackhawk helicopters during the “victory lap” on the streets of Kandahar, the spiritual heartland of Taliban, the Taliban has now held another parade to showcase its military might.
On Wednesday, the Taliban held a victory parade to showcase the weaponry it plundered following the fall of the US-backed Afghan national government. In the parade, the Taliban displayed its suicide attackers, car bombs, barrel bombs, vest explosives etc.
The event was telecast on Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), a public broadcaster of Afghanistan.
In the parade, the Taliban displayed one of its showpiece weaponry – suicide bombers – to the elders of the radical Islamic outfit. A group consisting of various martyrdom-seekers squadrons or suicide bombers were seen parading carrying the Islamic Emirate’s flag.
This is National TV of Afghanistan, broadcasting parades of Taliban’s Suicide attackers, Car bombs, barrel bombs, vest explosives. pic.twitter.com/BnRczQQ4Xy
— Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) September 2, 2021
The Taliban also showcased light weaponry, heavy weaponry, mines, yellow barrels and car bombs during the event. A Taliban commentator said that the weapons would be used against invaders and their puppets in defence of independence and dear country.
The most prominent among this weaponry is the yellow barrel, vest bomb and car bomb, said the Taliban, adding that the yellow bombs are the greatest invention of the military industry of Mujahideen that could destroy vehicles of the enemy.
During the parade, the Taliban also displayed vest bombs and car bombs, which they termed as the weaponry of the military industry of Mujahideen intended to be used in the martyrdom-seeking operations to destroy enemy moving and static targets and enemy’s key installations.
In another video shared by Iranian journalist Tajuden Soroush, Taliban fighters were seen impressing the elderly Mujahideen leaders of the Taliban with their Karate skills.
This is not ISIS, this is Taliban on National TV of Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/663rhtzUNw
— Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) September 2, 2021
It is important to note that the weaponry that the Taliban are displaying does not belong to them. Most of the weaponry accessed by the Taliban is due to the large scale loot carried out by the Taliban fighters from the erstwhile Afghan national forces. The United States of America had provided massive arms and ammunition to the Afghan national forces during their war against the Taliban.
After the US forces withdrew from Afghanistan and the Afghan forces either surrendered to the Taliban or fled from their posts, and followig the subsequent take over of the war-torn country by the Taliban, these arms were passed on to the Taliban. Besides local arms, the Taliban has laid its hands on the sophisticated American weaponry and vehicles that the US troops left behind in Afghanistan.
The US-led forces that formally left Afghanistan on August 31, 2021, left behind military equipment worth almost USD 80 billion. The US had provided Afghan forces since 2003 with more than 16,000 night-vision goggle devices, 600,000 infantry weapons, including M16 assault rifles, and 162,000 pieces of communication equipment.
Besides, there are more than 6 lakh small arms like rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, and RPGs that have fallen into the Taliban fighters’ hands. Apart from this, the Taliban has secured surveillance equipment, radio systems, drones, etc., making it one of the heavily armed fighting units in the world.
Amidst this, there are concerns that China may get access to state-of-the-art weapons, military equipment, aircraft and other equipment, which may then be reverse-engineered to be used against India and the United States – the two hostile powers of China.
