An Afghan channel on Telegram reported on Wednesday images of several tanks and military vehicles belonging to the Afghan government in Tehran. At the same time, images were shared on a Twitter page showing a number of American-made Humvee armored vehicles being transported by an Iranian army truck from Afghanistan to Iran at a police station in Semnan - Garmsar in northern Iran. Bismillah Mohammadi, the former acting Afghan defense minister, posted one of these images on his Twitter page, referring to Iran as a "bad neighbor" and stating, "The bad days of Afghanistan are not eternal."
According to a report from Radio Farda, the American Humvees (HMMWV) are high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles originally designed and manufactured for the U.S. military and are now used by the armed forces of some other countries. The Humvee is used to traverse any type of road in any climate and was among the vehicles widely utilized by U.S. forces during their 20 years of military presence in Afghanistan.
No further details have been disclosed regarding the type and quantity of vehicles and equipment transferred to Iran or their final destination, and Iranian officials have not commented on these reports yet. However, last week on August 25, a spokesman for the Iranian civil aviation authority officially announced that several Afghan Kam Air airline planes had been transferred to Iran. According to the spokesman, after clashes and tensions escalated at Kabul Airport following the Taliban's entry into the city, the owner of the private Afghan airline Kam Air requested to relocate some of the company's planes to Iranian airports, and the planes left for Iran after several days.
The exact numbers of American military equipment in Afghanistan have not been revealed, but the total value of U.S. military equipment is estimated to be around $85 billion. Earlier today, Radio Farda published a special report on the equipment of Afghan and U.S. air forces in Afghanistan, stating that 40 out of 226 aircraft and helicopters belonging to the Afghan air force at bases in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Herat, and Shindand came under Taliban control. Several Cessna 208 communication aircraft from Kabul base were transported to Tajikistan, with others sent to Uzbekistan.
The report also mentioned that a total of 62 helicopters and planes belonging to the Afghan air force were moved from Mazar Sharif and Kabul bases to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in August, along with 685 Afghan army officers who received asylum in those countries. It appears that most of the aviation equipment and aircraft seized by the Taliban need repairs and cannot be operated without specialized personnel.
The U.S. Central Command announced yesterday that the U.S. military destroyed equipment that could not be evacuated from Afghanistan before its complete withdrawal. According to the report, this equipment included 70 MRAP vehicles, 27 Humvees, and 73 helicopters and planes. However, it remains unclear how the American Humvee armored vehicles were transported from Afghanistan to Iran.
