The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan resulted in the United States leaving the Taliban (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) $7.2 billion worth of weapons. These figures are cited by John Sopko, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The nature of the withdrawal has left many Afghans with the impression that the U.S. is simply handing over Afghanistan to a future Taliban government," the inspector's report said.

Sopko pointed out that not only small arms, but also missiles, aircraft and other equipment that had previously been transferred to the pro-American Afghan government to the tune of $18.6 billion had fallen into Taliban hands.

The inspector put the responsibility for the rapid defeat of the Afghan army and further transfer of American weapons to the Taliban on the administration of the former US president George W. Bush, under whom, according to the specialist, there was no proper control over arms supplies to Afghanistan.

In this connection, Sopko urged the Pentagon not to repeat past mistakes and strictly control the flow of weapons supplied to Ukraine. "Given the ongoing conflict and the unprecedented volumes of weapons shipped to Ukraine, the risk that some equipment will end up on the black market or fall into the wrong hands is probably inevitable," the expert stressed.

The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as a result of the withdrawal of US and allied forces. Their government has not yet been recognized by much of the international community, but the Taliban regularly visit Moscow.