Huh?
Scrap Heap of War: Billions in equipment being left behind in Afghanistan
How much “stuff” is the United States military leaving behind as it withdraws from Afghanistan after 12 years of war? Try some $6 billion worth.
And much of it may yet end up in a junk pile.
That includes 850 MRAPS (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles which have been credited with saving countless lives from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the road, but now will either be given to an allied country (as long as they pay the shipping costs) or for scrap on the Afghan market.
Phi Beta Iota: The US has been caught flat-footed, in part because one timid Colonel was not willing to take the anomalous analysis of Robert Steele, who correctly predicted from mid-September 2013 that the BSA would not be signed, but this analysis never made it to General Dunford. Although both candidates going into the run-off have promised to sign the BSA, we anticipate that decision being reconsidered, especially if they agree that the runner-up should be Prime Minister and a regional peace conference concludes that forcing ISAF to leave empty-handed is in fact the best of all worlds — indeed, a regional Military Equipment Recovery Group led by Afghanistan with the full participation of China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and Turkey would be a hoot. Keep everything in good operating condition and sell it to the highest bidders across Arabia and Africa (China and Russia will block major sales to the Stans), everything shipped via Iran. It's not often six billion dollars is left out in the rain for anyone to collect. Now imagine that money (on top of promised billions from India, Japan, and others) channeled into water, power, free Internet, and educational projects the Americans have refused to fund in earnest since the Soviets left, combine that with a regional peace commission that enables the ramping up of multinational agricultural, energy, and minerals opportunities, and you begin to see a wealthy Afghanistan, free of ISAF and ham-fisted Americans. The BSA is the Treaty of Gandamak. There is ZERO justification for unilateral US capabilities with imunity in Afghanistan going into the future. Those with integrity understand that. Those without integrity do the American public a grave disservice.
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