The United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has reacted sharply to the suggestion that military equipment left by American forces in Afghanistan fell into the hands of militants and created security problems for countries in the region including Pakistan. However, the spokesperson said that Washington would work with Pakistan to counter the threat it faced from Afghanistan border. At a briefing, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby discussed Biden-Harris Administration goals and priorities at the upcoming G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit and U.S.-ASEAN and East Asia Summits. At one point, a Pakistani journalist said, \u201cGroups like ISIS, al-Qaida, and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, many others, also gained the control of the military equipment, about $7 billion, left behind by American forces.\u201d Kirby interrupted him with \u201cwhoa, whoa, whoa, say that last part again?\u201d When the journalist said that militants gained the control of the military equipment left behind by American forces in Afghanistan, Kirby stopped him there. \u201cJust let me stop you right there.\u201d He then vociferously rejected the notion that the US abandoned military hardware in Afghanistan. \u201cThere was no equipment left behind by American forces. There was a small amount of equipment and some aircraft at the airport when we finished our evacuation efforts, but they were all rendered unusable as we left. In fact, the only thing that we left \u2013 we left that the Taliban could take advantage of was some airport mechanic capabilities: tow trucks and trucks with ladders on them, and that kind of thing; I think some firefighting equipment.\u201d Kirby did admit that military equipment fell into the hands of militants saying \u201cthe equipment that you\u2019re talking about, and I don\u2019t mean to get pugilistic here, but it\u2019s an important point \u2013 the equipment that people are saying the Americans left behind, that was equipment that was transferred well in advance of our departure to the Afghan National Security Forces. It belonged to the Afghan National Security Forces, because that was part of the mission that our troops were involved in Afghanistan to do in the first place, which was to train up and to support Afghan national security forces as they took charge of security in their country. And they needed equipment to do that, and so there \u2013 yeah, there was turnover of American equipment to them.\u201d Kirby said that Afghan forces abandoned that equipment, not the United States. \u201cSorry to interrupt you, but that\u2019s an important point, and I wanted to make sure I made that,\u201d he said. In response to another question about President Biden\u2019s remarks that Pakistan is the most dangerous country with the nuclear weapons, John Kirby said the Biden administration would work with Pakistan to mitigate threat from Afghanistan border. \u201cWe know that the Pakistani people continue to suffer the threat from terrorism, particularly along that border, that border with Afghanistan. And we\u2019re going to continue to work with Pakistan \u2013 to the degree that they\u2019re comfortable with, of course \u2013 to help address those kinds of security threats to their own people and to their own borders because it\u2019s not an insignificant threat. There\u2019s a \u2013 there is a lot of danger that\u2019s still posed to the Pakistani people, and the President understands that, and he\u2019s committed to continue to work with Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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