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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s acting prime minister said Monday that US military equipment abandoned during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan fell into the hands of militants and eventually found its way to the Pakistani Taliban.

The equipment, which includes a wide variety of items from night vision goggles to firearms, is “now emerging as a new challenge” for Islamabad as it has improved the fighting capabilities of the Pakistani Taliban, the prime minister said. Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar. .

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, have intensified attacks against Pakistani security forces in recent months. They are a separate militant group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban.

The Taliban invaded Afghanistan in mid-August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final weeks of their chaotic withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war. In the face of the Taliban offensive, the US-backed and trained Afghan army collapsed.

There is no definitive information on how much US equipment was left behind, but the Taliban seized US-supplied firepower and recovered weapons, ammunition, helicopters and other modern military equipment from the Afghan forces that handed them over. Although no one knows the exact value, US defense officials have confirmed that it is significant.

Speaking to a select group of journalists at his office in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Monday, Kakar did not provide any evidence to support his allegation or directly link the Afghan Taliban and the TTP. He said a “coordinated approach” was needed to tackle the challenge of surplus equipment.

Kakar also failed to criticize the Afghan Taliban: Islamabad has tried to reach out and act as an interlocutor between the international community and the new rulers of Kabul, who have been ostracized by the harsh edicts they have imposed since taking power.

However, two security officials in Islamabad told The Associated Press that the TTP bought the equipment from the Afghan Taliban or gave it to them as an ally. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue.

The Pakistani Taliban have also released statements and video clips in recent months, claiming to possess, for example, weapons with laser and thermal sighting systems.

TTP fighters now attack Pakistani troops from a distance, whereas before their only weapons were AK-47 assault rifles, one of the officials said, without elaborating.

Even so, Pakistani security forces will continue to fight the militants “to defend our home, our children, our mosques and places of worship,” Kakar said.

Kakar, 52, was sworn in last month as Pakistan’s youngest prime minister to head an interim government. His cabinet will handle day-to-day affairs until the next parliamentary elections. The vote, which was due to take place in October or November, is likely to be pushed back to at least January 2024 as Pakistan’s election watchdog says it needs time to redraw electoral districts to reflect the latest census results. .

Kakar ruled out any talks between the government and the TTP since the militants unilaterally broke a ceasefire last November.

Since the Taliban took power next door, Islamabad says the Afghan Taliban have increasingly harbored TTP fighters, straining relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
Pakistan became a key ally of Washington in its war on terror after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. This Muslim-majority country is currently facing one of its worst economic crises, even as its political turmoil deepens.

In his press conference, Kakar also stressed that all political parties, including the Pakistani opposition party Tahreek-e-Insaf of the now jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, would be allowed to participate in the upcoming elections.

“We are here only to help in the electoral process,” Kakar said.

He did not directly mention Khan, who cannot stand in the elections because he is serving a three-year prison sentence for corruption. Khan, who was ousted in a vote of no confidence in April 2022, remains the country’s main opposition figure.