In Pakistan, Militants Use US Weapons Left In Afghanistan: Pak Police

A top police official of Pakistan claimed on Thursday that militants in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are using modern weapons left in Afghanistan by the US after its withdrawal last year. 

The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, nearly 20 years after invading the country in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

In a press conference, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Inspector General Moazzam Jah Ansari said that modern weapons left by the US after their departure from Afghanistan in 2021 are being used for terror activities in the province, according to Samaa TV.

“These militants took up the sophisticated weaponry left behind by the Americans and waged war against the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police,” Ansari was quoted as saying.

His remark comes amid an increase in armed assailants targeting security forces.

According to CNN, a congressionally mandated report from the US Department of Defence said that approximately USD 7 billion in military equipment transferred to the Afghan government over 16 years was left behind in Afghanistan after the US completed its withdrawal from the country in August.

The Inspector General said in the report that many militants in Afghan jails were released when the Afghan Taliban took over Afghanistan.

Ansari vowed to eradicate terrorism from the province's border with war-torn Afghanistan.

At least six police officers were killed on Wednesday in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after militants opened fire on a police van.