The US Air Forces have destroyed at least 40 Humvee armored personnel carrier captured by the Taliban insurgents since 2015, the coalition officials have said.
“In the event this type of military equipment is stolen, U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and the Afghan national defense and security forces work quickly to reacquire the equipment or eliminate it from the battlefield altogether so as not to allow the enemy an advantage,” Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell, a military spokesman, has told USA Today in a statement.
He has said If the equipment can’t be recaptured in a ground attack, it is destroyed from the air.
According to the coalition forces officials, the 40 Humvees were destroyed in U.S. airstrikes since January 2015, shortly after U.S. combat forces left Afghanistan and Afghan government troops took the lead in fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
The captured American equipment not only gives militants increased firepower or protection but it can also be used by the Taliban to disguise its fighters as American or allied Afghan forces in an effort to slip past guards.
This comes as a group of at least ten suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on Ministry of Interior compound with an aim to intrude into the ministry compound using the SUV armored vehicles and military uniforms.