Changes

The [[United States]] spent $83 billion equipping and training the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), including $10 billion in aircraft and vehicles.<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/us-spent-83-billion-training-afghan-forces-why-did-they-collapse-so-quickly/184529/</ref>  In July 2021 the [[Pentagon]] said it was providing the Afghan Air Force 35 Black Hawk helicopters and three A-29 Super Tucanos.  Less than a month later the Black Hawks helicopters and other aircraft were seized by the Taliban.  Many of the aircraft and helicopters are armed.  The A-29 Super Tucanos can fire laser-guided and other types of bombs. The Afghan government also had 50 American-made MD-530 attack helicopters, which are armed with machine guns and rockets. The Afghan Air Force had UH-60 Black Hawks and Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters, as well as C-130 and Cessna transports, and a small fleet of armed Cessnas.<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/taliban-captured-helicopters-can-they-capture-air-force/184525/</ref>

The [[United States]] spent $83 billion equipping and training the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), including $10 billion in aircraft and vehicles.<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/us-spent-83-billion-training-afghan-forces-why-did-they-collapse-so-quickly/184529/</ref>  In July 2021 the [[Pentagon]] said it was providing the Afghan Air Force 35 Black Hawk helicopters and three A-29 Super Tucanos.  Less than a month later the Black Hawks helicopters and other aircraft were seized by the Taliban.  Many of the aircraft and helicopters are armed.  The A-29 Super Tucanos can fire laser-guided and other types of bombs. The Afghan government also had 50 American-made MD-530 attack helicopters, which are armed with machine guns and rockets. The Afghan Air Force had UH-60 Black Hawks and Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters, as well as C-130 and Cessna transports, and a small fleet of armed Cessnas.<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/taliban-captured-helicopters-can-they-capture-air-force/184525/</ref>

When asked about American weapons captured by the Taliban, Sullivan responded that "certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and obviously we don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.

The ''[[Associated Press]]'' reported, "the Afghan security forces collapsed so quickly and completely — in some cases without a shot fired — that the ultimate beneficiary of the American investment turns out to be the Taliban."<ref>https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-army-taliban-995b069a9008690582cb34f4cacd8515</ref>  When asked about American weapons captured by the Taliban, Sullivan responded that "certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban and obviously we don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport."

When asked about the Blackhawk helicopters and other equipment that the Taliban took, Sullivan filled up the sound byte with a bunch of proper nouns, formal titles, common buzzwords, phrases, and bureaucratese, and then tried to actually defended the decision:

When asked about the Blackhawk helicopters and other equipment that the Taliban took, Sullivan filled up the sound byte with a bunch of proper nouns, formal titles, common buzzwords, phrases, and bureaucratese, then tried to actually defended the decision:

:'''Q.''' Can you shed light on the decision to leave behind Blackhawks and other equipment, how that fits in with the contingency plan in the U.S. to leave behind Blackhawks and other equipment? Why give the Taliban access to state-of-the-art equipment that they could either use to bolster their own defenses, or sell off to other countries?

:'''Q.''' Can you shed light on the decision to leave behind Blackhawks and other equipment, how that fits in with the contingency plan in the U.S. to leave behind Blackhawks and other equipment? Why give the Taliban access to state-of-the-art equipment that they could either use to bolster their own defenses, or sell off to other countries?