04 April 2023

Taliban restores Afghan National Army's military vehicles, weapons

by Kapil Kajal

The Taliban government has restored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles abandoned by the Afghan National Army. The above picture shows a US Army exercise with an HMMWV. (US Army)

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has restored at least 341 vehicles and 1,050 military weapons abandoned by the Afghan National Army (ANA) following the United States military's withdrawal from the country in 2021.

In a social media post in late March, Afghanistan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced that it had restored 300 military vehicles. The vehicles are ready for use by the technical team of the Taliban's Abu Dujana Brigade, the MND said.

According to the MND, the vehicles restored included 150 Russian-origin Kamaz trucks, 140 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs) including 15 M977 ambulance variants, and two tanks.

The MND said it also restored vehicles that it named as ‘Aradeh Taylor' and ‘Aradeh Purcliff'. However, these platforms have not been identified.

In another social media post, the MND said it had restored 41 vehicles including 30 HMMWVs, six Navistar International 7000-MV series trucks, and five ‘ranger' vehicles, which almost certainly refers to the Ford Ranger.

In addition, 1,050 different types of military weapons have been restored by the Taliban including Russian- and US-origin guns, rockets, heavy weapons, and assault rifles such as the M4 and M16.

In August 2022, a spokesperson for the MND said 89 different non-operational intermediate vehicles abandoned by the US were restored by the Taliban's 203rd Mansoori Army Corps.

According to Afghanistan's state-owned Bakhtar News Agency, most of these military vehicles were partially damaged by the US forces during withdrawal.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has restored at least 341 vehicles and 1,050 military weapons ...

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