From India to Israel, US weapons getting used to assault its allies

After Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, butchered its residents and took a whole bunch as hostages, movies captured the horror and the celebration in Gaza. What was identified by consultants was the flashing of American weapons, particularly what they mentioned had been M14 assault rifles, within the celebratory movies.

A outstanding American politician has questioned if US-made weapons had been utilized by the Palestinian terrorist outfit Hamas and sought a probe to search out out if the supply of the weapons was Afghanistan or Ukraine.

India, too, has been reporting the usage of US-made arms and ammunition by terrorists in Kashmir.

What is paradoxical right here is that each India and Israel are allies of the United States.

But how are weapons manufactured within the US discovering their means into the palms of terrorist organizations just like the Jaish-e-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Hamas within the Palestinian territory?

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US DUMPED WEAPONS IN AFGHANISTAN

War is a giant enterprise, however it’s a bloody enterprise leading to 1000’s of deaths the world over. The largest producer and exporter of arms and defence tools, the United States, is on the centre of that huge enterprise.

Arms exports by the US elevated by 14 per cent between 2013–17 and 2018–22 and it accounted for 40 per cent of the worldwide arms exports within the 2018–22 interval, in keeping with a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in March 2023.

As it has been supplying weapons to Ukraine amid the nation’s battle with Russia, the US has all through its historical past been offering weapons to varied theatres of battle.

The US battle in Afghanistan in opposition to the Taliban after the 9/11 assaults was one other such navy theatre the place it poured in arms and defence tools price billions of {dollars}.

But Afghanistan has by no means been a straightforward territory for any overseas power. Like the Soviet Russia assault in 1988, the US-led Nato marketing campaign too turned untenable.

In February 2020, then US President Donald Trump signed a peace cope with the Taliban and that included a deadline of May 2021 by when all overseas troops can be withdrawn from Afghanistan. President Joe Biden, Trump’s successor, additionally dedicated to the withdrawal of troops however prolonged the deadline to August 31.

The withdrawal of overseas troops was chaotic, to say the least. The Taliban militia had taken management of most components of Afghanistan by then and within the rush to go away the war-battered nation, US troops left behind weapons and defence tools of over $7 billion. Those later discovered their means into the palms of the Taliban.

“US-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed, much of which has since been seized by the Taliban,” the US Department of Defence mentioned in its report in August 2022. The trove included navy plane, floor automobiles, weapons, and different navy tools, the report mentioned.

Among the defence tools had been Black Hawks and different helicopters, US Humvees and ScanEagle navy drones.

Then there have been refined weapons like M16 assault rifles and M4 carbines, which had landed with anti-India and anti-Israel forces. These are what’s now being turned in opposition to the 2 nations.

AMERICAN WEAPONS IN KASHMIR

During final 12 months’s Raisina Dialogue, then Army Chief General MM Naravane mentioned India was seeing an increase within the variety of weapons and different navy tools from Afghanistan being seized in Kashmir.

Pakistan-backed terrorists working within the Kashmir Valley had been discovered to be utilizing steel-core bullets and night-vision glasses left behind by the US-led Nato troops in Afghanistan. American armour-piercing bullets have been utilized in encounters with Indian safety forces and so they breached the bulletproof jackets of troopers.

In January, NBC News reported quoting Indian officers that Pakistan-backed terrorists had been armed with M4s, M16s and different US-made arms and ammunition. The officers informed NBC News that it may very well be due to the US-funded weapons that fell into the palms of the Taliban after the rushed American exit from Afghanistan.

It was in 2020 that US-made refined M-series carbine rifles started surfacing in Kashmir.

It got here as a priority for the Indian safety institution as these are extra refined than the AK-series rifles, which have been the mainstay of the terrorists.

Experts have hinted at Pakistan supplying the M4 carbines, that are utilized by its troops.

There are thriving weapons bazars in Pakistan, together with the one in Darra Adam Khel, close to Peshawar.

And it isn’t that Frankenstein’s Monster has spared Pakistan. In September this 12 months, Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, mentioned that US navy tools, from firearms to night-vision goggles, had reached the Pakistani Taliban or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has not too long ago overrun a number of villages in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and seized the military headquarters in Chitral.

The seizure of US-made weapons in Kashmir elevated after what consultants trace on the Taliban buying and selling the weapons on the black market, a cost the Islamic militia has denied.

Most of the weapons recovered in Kashmir are from Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the NBC News report mentioned.

DID HAMAS USE AMERICAN GUNS IN ISRAEL ATTACK?

Is it the identical that occurred in Israel as Hamas terrorists went on a massacre? It appears probably and a number of other consultants are asking for an in depth investigation.

US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in a publish on X recommended that Hamas could have used American weapons for its assault on Israel. The Republican member of the House of Representatives sought an intensive investigation into the supply of the weapons utilized by Hamas.

Jim Ferguson, a British politician, too tweeted a photograph of Taliban militants with American weapons and linked it to the Hamas assault on Israel.

“A high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander said US weapons left in Afghanistan by the Biden administration were found in the hands of Palestinian groups active in the Gaza Strip,” posted Ferguson.

The Israel Defence Forces on October 5, simply two days forward of the Hamas assault that killed over 500 Israelis, tweeted a photograph of an M-16 rifle that they had recovered from two terrorists who attacked an Israeli safety forces car.

The M-16 is a classy assault rifle manufactured within the US, which was equipped to Afghanistan.

The fear has been persisting for months now.

In May this 12 months, Newsweek quoted an unnamed Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander saying the nation was involved that weapons equipped to Ukraine by the US and different western nations might find yourself with Israel’s enemies within the Middle East.

The Israeli commander was significantly nervous about Iran and informed Newsweek, “â€æWe are very worried that some of these capabilities are going to fall to Hezbollah and Hamas’ hands.”

The Israeli commander mentioned among the US-made small arms seized in Afghanistan have already been seen with Palestinian terrorist teams working within the Gaza Strip.

Several movies on social media platforms present individuals within the Gaza Strip celebrating the assault on Israel with weapons, which consultants recognized as American weapons, together with M16 and M4 rifles.

The use of American weapons in opposition to US allies is a grave concern. It stays to be seen how the US will tackle this situation. The incidents additionally function a stark reminder of the widespread and unpredictable penalties of arms proliferation.

Published On:

Oct 10, 2023