—— US weapons in terrorists hands become serious threat for regional and global security
—— Pakistan frequently takes up US leftover weapons issue
—— Pakistan has solid evidence that modern military gear has been used in multiple attacks
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: The evidence of foreign weapons smuggled from Afghanistan and being used in terror attacks in Pakistan have emerged as the constant supply of these arms to a terrorist outfit like TTP has serious consequences for regional security.
The trend has emerged after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the allied forces left a massive quantity of military hardware in the war-torn country at a time when Pakistani armed forces have been busy in fighting the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) for the last two decades. Meanwhile, it isn’t just the TTP with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) too used the US weapons in its attacks on Frontier Corps (FC) camps at Noshki and Panjgur. Details show that the TTP members armed with US-made weapons had targeted the Zhob garrison, two border posts in Chitral.
Similarly, US weapons were recovered from the terrorists carrying out attacks in Tank as well as targeting the Mianwali airbase.
Meanwhile, the attackers in the recent terror hit in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan were not only equipped with the US weapons but also night-vision gear.
On the other hand, the Pakistani authorities seized Customs officials and security forces seized a large quantity of US-made weapons at Pakistan-Afghanistan border earlier this week on Dec 12.
A variety of weapons – including military-grade assault rifles like M4, night vision equipment, laser devices and thousands of rounds – were among the items recovered from a vehicle which was seemingly transporting onions.
It is now clear that the haphazard US withdrawal resulted in enhancing the TTP’s capabilities of carrying out cross-border attacks from Afghan soil.
Meanwhile, it is not just Pakistan but also international media which has highlighted this fact, as the EurAsian Times reported that the TTP was using US-made weapons in terror attacks across Pakistan.
The seriousness of this issue can gauged by the figures shared by the Pentagon, which show the United States supplied a total of 427,300 weapons – $18.6 billion in value – to the Afghan forces from 2005 to August 2021. And 300,000 were left behind after the US withdrawal, resulting in a sharp increase in terrorism in the region since then.
These developments a proof that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has not only been arming the TTP but also providing an opportunity to other terrorist outfits.
Hence, the claims made by the interim Afghan government about not allowing its territory to be used against Pakistan are meaningless as the cross-border arms trafficking means that the innocent citizens and the security forces remain a constant target of the heavily-armed TTP.
