Srinagar: In August 2020, the United States withdrew its military troops from Afghanistan ending history’s longest war on terror following a political coup by the militant group Taliban. This controversial step down left behind a large pool of arms and ammunition in the hands of the Afghan National Army under the hope that they would stand against the Taliban.
However, these arms are being misused by several insurgent groups and terrorists, the impact of which can be seen in Kashmir as well, giving rise to a threat of terrorist activities in the region.
Following the US withdrawal, the Afghan Army fell like a house of cards with the majority of its rank deserting their units or posts with weapons.
These including some captured by the Taliban found their way to the Arms market in Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of neighbouring Pakistan.
Thus, these weapons were now up for sale in the open market.
Impact on Kashmir insurgency
Recently, a video released by Peoples Anti-fascist Force ( PAFF) Kashmir based terror group showed terrorists using the most sophisticated American made weaponry. The terror group has uploaded some pictures too of their people carrying those weapons.
Here's the video!
WATCH: #ViralVideo by local #Kashmir terror outfit 'People's Anti-Fascist Force' shows local terrorists using American made arms and ammunition left in #Afghanistan by the U.S. army pic.twitter.com/ZWyA8ABQmi
— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) January 21, 2022
The militants claimed that they have used it in a recent pooch attack against the Indian army where 9 Indian army soldiers got martyred.
In the video, terrorists can be seen using M249 Automatic Rifles 509 tactical guns, M1911 pistols and M4 Carbine rifles as identified by security experts. All these weapons are being used by the American army as well.
Defence experts had already indicated that US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan will have an impact on the Kashmir situation. And now when this weaponry has reached Kashmir it’s an indication that terrorists are getting American made modern sophisticated weapons in Kashmir which were leftover by the US army in Afghanistan.
Media reports suggest that American troops when left Afghanistan left behind weaponry worth 80 million USD. “There are more than 6 lakh sophisticated small arms like rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenade launchers and RPGs. Apart from this, surveillance equipment, radio systems, drones, night-vision goggles are also included in all this.” The reports suggest.
The heads of terror groups operating in India used the money obtained through narco-terror to buy these weapons and supply them to the terrorist group using drones and cross-border smuggling.
This has once again changed the terror equation in Kashmir. The recent capture of a few foreign terrorists with US-made assault Rifles has become a cause of worry for the security forces.
Such weapons provide an edge to the terrorists who enjoy the initiative of first-use or pre-emption. Security forces will soon find a counter to it.”
