New Delhi: Donald Trump this week raked up the US’ exit from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021 calling it “a shameful retreat” and claiming that military equipment left behind during the chaotic evacuation could still be recovered because Afghanistan was still “kissing our asses”.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit Wednesday, Trump alleged that the Biden administration had mishandled the withdrawal and squandered an opportunity to leave Afghanistan “with honour and dignity”.
“I may get all that equipment back now. Here’s the thing more symbolic because it’s a little old now. But we may get it all back. Afghanistan is kissing our ass, you know that?” he said at a press conference.
“The retreat was horrible,” Trump then charged, claiming that large quantities of American military equipment had been abandoned despite the United States facing no immediate military pressure at the time. He insisted that his administration would have overseen a more orderly departure, removing all military assets before leaving the country.
“I would have taken every piece of equipment, right down to the tents,” Trump said, adding that the United States could potentially retrieve some of the equipment still in Afghanistan. While acknowledging that much of it may have deteriorated over the past five years, he argued that any recovery effort would carry symbolic value.
The remarks resurrected a debate that has continued to shape US political discourse since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. The withdrawal ended America’s two-decade military presence in the country but unfolded amid scenes of chaos at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where thousands of Afghans crowded evacuation flights as the US-backed Afghan government collapsed.
The evacuation culminated in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate carried out by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan affiliate, ISIS-K, killing 13 American service members and scores of Afghan civilians.
The Taliban regime has not formally responded to Trump’s latest comments. However, its officials have previously dismissed suggestions that Washington could reclaim military equipment left behind in Afghanistan, describing such proposals as “imaginary”.
Questions surrounding the fate of American-funded weapons and military hardware have persisted since the Taliban returned to power. According to a former Afghan official who spoke anonymously to the BBC in 2025, the Taliban seized roughly one million weapons and pieces of military equipment after taking control of the country. Much of the arsenal had been supplied to Afghan security forces over two decades of US involvement.
The stockpile included American-made M4 and M16 rifles, night-vision devices, vehicles and other military hardware accumulated during years of Western assistance to Afghan forces.
In a February report, the UN said affiliates of al-Qaeda, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, had gained access to Taliban-captured weapons either directly or through black-market networks.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
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