WASHINGTON, D.C. - When the Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021 without so much as a plan, many were concerned about the military weapons and equipment left behind during the hurried withdrawal from that war-torn nation. Now, it appears that those concerns were justified.
According to The National Pulse, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that those weapons, vehicles, aircraft, and other equipment worth an estimated $7.1 billion fell into the hands of the Taliban after the ill-fated U.S. withdrawal. The military equipment was in that country because of nearly two decades of U.S. involvement in that country after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That information was contained in a 137-page document, Fox News Digital reported.
SIGAR noted that the United States dedicated $144.7 billion to Afghanistan between 2002 and mid-2021, when Biden pulled the plug. While some of those funds went toward building roads, schools, and other infrastructure, much of it, nearly $90 billion, was directed toward security assistance. That equipment was used to equip and sustain the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), which included weapons, vehicles, training, pay, military bases, and other support, The National Pulse reported.
That equipment included hundreds of thousands of weapons, tens of thousands of vehicles, and over 160 aircraft. According to Pentagon records from late July 2021, only weeks before Biden bailed the U.S. out of the country and the Taliban seized Kabul, the Afghan Air Force possessed 162 U.S.-supplied aircraft, 131 of them functional.
Shortly after Biden ordered the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the ANDSF collapsed almost immediately. SIGAR’s 2025 report noted that after two decades and massive investment from the U.S., Afghan forces never gained the ability to operate independently.
The following year, a Pentagon watchdog found that “Afghan forces had 316,260 weapons, worth $511.8 million, as well as ammunition and other equipment in their stocks when the former government fell, though the operational condition of these items was unknown.”
Shortly after the withdrawal, the Defense Department “reported that the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021.” It appears that it was stretching the truth.
After the U.S. withdrew, morale among Afghan soldiers collapsed, bases were abandoned, and the Taliban seized the leftover arsenal of weapons and other military equipment. President Donald Trump and other Republicans have strongly criticized Biden’s “strategy,” or lack thereof, believing the equipment should have been evacuated out of Afghanistan along with the military.
“Due to the Taliban takeover, SIGAR was unable to inspect any of the equipment provided to, or facilities constructed for, the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) following the Afghan government’s collapse,” the report said. “However, DOD determined that the United States left behind approximately $7.1 billion in material and equipment it had given to the ANDSF.
“Similarly, any remaining ANDSF facilities that were not destroyed can be assumed to be under Taliban control. These U.S. taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities have formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus.”
Even after the U.S. withdrawal, the Biden administration continued sending humanitarian aid and developmental assistance to Afghanistan totaling millions of dollars, much of which benefited the Taliban-controlled government.
“Despite Afghanistan falling to the Taliban in 2021, the United States continued to be the nation’s largest donor, having disbursed more than $3.83 billion in humanitarian and development assistance there since,” the report read. “In the March 2025 quarter alone, disbursements totaled $120 million."
The SIGAR report continued, “Efforts to improve Afghanistan’s economic and social conditions also failed to have a lasting impact. And despite nearly $90 billion in U.S. appropriations for security-sector assistance, Afghan security forces ultimately collapsed quickly without a sustained U.S. military presence.”
Under the terms of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), SIGAR will cease operations in January 2026.
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