It’s been a year and a half since the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, and a new picture released by the Taliban is rubbing salt in the wound.
When the US withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021, it left a staggering amount of military equipment in the country to be used by the Taliban, including hundreds of aircraft.
Now it seems the Taliban are putting those abandoned planes to good use.
Last week, the Taliban released a photo of three pilots who had just completed their training. According to the journalist Asad Sam HannaThese men are the Taliban’s “first three pilots in Afghanistan”.
Taliban pilots just graduated from a training center # Three days From their documents, it is clear that they became pilots in the operational helicopter division. If, God forbid, when they fly, they will shoot down any living thing they see on the ground. pic.twitter.com/wvIqAogRvl
– Aaron Mobarez February 8, 2023
At first glance, this picture seems quite ridiculous. Barefoot pilots, with what looks like a Christmas tree in the background, rather than work hours and the pilots’ attire give the impression that this is not exactly a sophisticated or elite air force.
But if you look a little closer, there are three small details that make all the difference in the Biden administration.
The certificates held by the three included pictures of MD-530 helicopters, which were used by the US in Afghanistan. According to the BBC, the US military abandoned some of them in Kabul.
If the certificates do indeed contain MD-530s, it’s a pretty safe assumption that the Taliban are training on captured US helicopters and indeed intend to use them for military purposes.
Now, this image is not really cause for alarm. The Taliban “air force” may not be much of a threat compared to the might of the US Air Force.
Is Biden responsible for the current situation in Afghanistan?
But that is not the point here. The point is that this photo is yet another reminder of how embarrassing the withdrawal from Afghanistan was to Biden and the American people.
We left the country after 20 years there in disorganized, fatal fashion and lost what we had worked so hard to achieve. The army that we spent years and millions of dollars training collapsed in a matter of days, and we abandoned not only military supplies, but also many Afghans who had been our allies against the Taliban.
Now, the same group we fought to remove from the country is back in power, almost as if nothing happened, and they are using our own military hardware to enforce their brutal rule.
These three new pilots will likely use captured US equipment to terrorize the Afghan people into surrender.
History will remember this moment as a colossal embarrassment for the Biden administration and America at large. The country that was once the most powerful country in the world became the laughing stock of the world overnight.
This picture is a painful reminder of how far the United States has fallen under the leadership of an incompetent president.
This article was originally published in the Western Journal.