The Dangerous Fallout of Missing US-Made Weapons in Afghanistan

A recent weapons audit conducted by the provincial General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) in Badghis has uncovered a significant security lapse within the Afghan National Army’s depots. The missing weapons — including 14 AK-47s, 28 M16s, 18 M4s, and 9 Beretta pistols, along with thousands of rounds of ammunition — are not just any arms. These are US-made weapons, once intended for Afghan security forces, now reportedly unaccounted for in the 3rd Brigade Headquarters of Badghis, a region bordering the heart of the militant activity in Afghanistan.

While this discovery may seem like just another logistical oversight, it exposes a far more troubling reality: Afghanistan’s weaponry is falling into the wrong hands. And those hands are often not just criminal gangs or local insurgents; they belong to well-organized militant groups like the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose operations are spreading fear across Pakistan and its neighboring regions. These stolen weapons — American-made and highly sought after — are not disappearing in a vacuum; they are being funneled to those who intend to use them against both the Afghan state and its neighbors.

This is not an isolated incident. Over the past two years, multiple reports have surfaced about US-made weapons, left behind in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal, making their way into the hands of terrorist groups. Pakistani authorities have already recovered substantial amounts of these weapons in various operations against terrorists in Pakistan. In the past year alone, Pakistani forces have seized caches of these weapons from militant hideouts across the country. The scale of this issue is undeniable: Afghanistan is rapidly becoming a key supplier of arms to groups that destabilize the region.

Pakistan’s warnings about militant safe havens across the border in Afghanistan have long been dismissed by the international community. But as more weapons from Afghan depots surface in the hands of groups like TTP, these warnings gain credibility. The issue is not just the loss of weapons; it’s the fundamental erosion of control over Afghanistan’s security infrastructure, a problem made worse by the Taliban’s seeming indifference — or even complicity — in allowing these weapons to end up in the hands of terror groups.

The case of Badruddin, a senior commander of the TTP killed in Pakistan while fighting with US-made weapons from Afghanistan’s 207 Al-Farooq Corps, underscores this point. His death — on Pakistani soil, in combat against Pakistani forces — reveals the depth of the problem. Badruddin, like many other militants, had direct access to US arms that should have been under Afghan government control. The fact that these weapons were used to attack Pakistan reveals a significant security breach, but it also points to something more dangerous: the possibility of a coordinated nexus between elements within Afghanistan’s military apparatus and extremist networks.

Afghanistan’s military and political structures are now fraught with contradictions. The Taliban, who promised to sever ties with terror groups and prevent the misuse of Afghan territory, are being exposed for harboring, arming, and enabling these same militants. The continued flow of stolen weapons to the TTP is a stark reminder of the Taliban’s failure — or unwillingness — to control their territory. For the international community, this represents not just a failure of counterterrorism efforts but a betrayal of the promises made to ensure that Afghanistan would not become a breeding ground for global terrorism.

In this context, the Taliban’s rhetoric about countering terrorism rings hollow. Their blatant disregard for international commitments and the evidence of their active complicity in fueling cross-border terrorism shows just how far removed their actions are from the peaceful image they have tried to project. These stolen US weapons are not just a strategic loss for the Afghan government; they are a direct threat to regional stability.

It is clear that without decisive international pressure and action, Afghanistan’s unchecked extremism will remain the single biggest threat to regional security. The ongoing failure to address these militant sanctuaries in Afghanistan ensures that the flow of weapons to terror groups will continue unabated, and the consequences of this will be felt for years to come. The time for diplomatic leniency has passed. It’s time for concrete measures to prevent Afghanistan from becoming an epicenter for cross-border terrorism and an exporter of weapons to militants who pose a grave threat to global security.