Republican promises Afghanistan investigation as American weapons turn up in ... trends now
A senior Republican promised to hold the Biden administration to account on Monday amid a fresh report that weapons abandoned to the Taliban during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan had made their way to another conflict.
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir claimed that Pakistan-linked militants have been seen with M4s, M16s and other American arms that have rarely been spotted before in the decades-long conflict.
Rep. Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, said it was the predictable result of the chaotic 2021 withdrawal.
'House Republicans warned this would happen yet there was zero oversight or investigation into Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan under Nancy Pelosi,' he told DailyMail.com.
'Rest assured, we will be holding hearings and looking into the consequences of leaving so much military equipment behind.'
Rep. Mike Waltz, of the House Armed Services Committee, said he had long warned that weapons left behind in Afghanistan would make their way into the hands of the Taliban and then on to other militant groups in other parts of the world
Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir claim that U.S. weapons have been used by Pakistan-linked militant as part of their struggled to take territory
The U.S.-backed Afghan government had $7.1 billion of weapons when it collapsed in August 2021. The Taliban swept into the capital Kabul filling a void left by Afghan security forces who simply melted away when U.S. troops left.
At the same time, American forces had to abandon vehicles, helicopters and stocks of their own weapons, which they said were mostly made inoperable.
Most are though to have ended up in the hands of the Taliban.
But Waltz, who is expected to take over as chair of the House subcommittee on military readiness, last year that the group's ties to Pakistan's intelligence agencies meant weapons could be transferred to fighters in another Pakistani target: Kashmir.
The region has been disputed ever since India was split at independence in 1947 to create a separate Muslim-majority country in the form of Pakistan.
Both sides claim the Himalayan region as their own, and it has been the trigger for wars, battles and skirmishes ever since.
The U.S. weapons have been reportedly seen in the hands of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) or Lashkar-e-Taiba, Pakistan-linked Jihadist movements that are designated as terrorist groups by the U.S.
A propaganda video released last year by the People's Anti-Fascist Front, a new militant grouping, apparently showed U.S. weapons, such as this M249 light machine gun
Analsyts believe the People's Anti-Fascist Front is a cover name for Jaish-e-Mohammad
