Taliban's Intense Control of Arms Prompts Weapons Black Market to Go Underground
As the Taliban consolidates power, the regime is working intently to ensure that the arms market is under their control which promotes the weapon's black market to go further underground.
Kabul December 2: As the Taliban consolidates power, the regime is working intently to ensure that the arms market is under their control which promotes the weapon's black market to go further underground.
According to Knewz, the dizzying speed with which the Taliban was able to seize billions of dollars of top-notch, US-made arms initially saw the black market flooded with goods, however as the Taliban regime has further extended its reach, it has put further caps on the arms market.
Afghanistan's weapons black market includes countless assault rifles, machine guns, rockets, carbines and bullets.
As the Taliban wishes to have a monopoly over the arm's market, Afghanistan's black market has gone further underground.
Also Read | Bomb Threat on Dhaka-Bound Malaysia Airlines Plane Turns Out to Be Hoax, Says Airport Official.
Earlier, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) said that Washington supplied the Afghan forces with more than $80 billion in military hardware throughout the two-decade conflict.
On the other hand, over the past two fiscal years alone, the United States funded some USD 2.6 billion worth of top-notch arms and accessories.
Furthermore, partner nations such as the United Kingdom also spent more than USD 200 million boosting the Afghan troops over the past decade.
Apart from guns and ammunition heavy military hardware are also available which are funded by US taxpayers, according to Knewz.
On the other hand, even during US occupation for two decades in Afghanistan, critics condemned the lack of oversight regarding the disposition and distribution of critical military equipment.
Further, as pointed by SIGAR's 2014 report, officials did not account for more than 200,000 small arms.
However, as the Taliban wishes to have a monopoly on the weapons market, it's noted that throughout the insurgency era, the Taliban depended on the black market to flourish its weapons arsenal.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)