The US left $7.1 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan when American forces withdrew in August 2021, according to a government watchdog report. The equipment now forms the core of the Taliban’s security apparatus.
The Final Report
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) released its 137-page final report in December 2025, documenting the extent of American involvement in Afghanistan over 20 years. Acting Inspector General Gene Aloise wrote that the mission “promised to bring stability and democracy to Afghanistan, yet ultimately delivered neither.”
Congress appropriated $144.7 billion for Afghanistan reconstruction between 2002 and 2021—far more than the US spent on the post-World War II Marshall Plan in inflation-adjusted terms.
What Was Left Behind
The Department of Defense was unable to inspect or destroy equipment before the withdrawal, leading SIGAR to conclude that most of it is now under Taliban control. The equipment included:
78 aircraft, over 40,000 military vehicles—including Humvees, M117 Armored Security Vehicles, and MaxxPro Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles—and more than 300,000 weapons such as M4 and M16 rifles.
“These US taxpayer-funded equipment, weapons, and facilities have formed the core of the Taliban security apparatus,” the SIGAR report stated.
Taliban Puts Equipment to Use
The Taliban has repaired and put hundreds of captured vehicles back into service. In March 2023, Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defense announced it had restored 300 military vehicles, including 150 Russian-origin Kamaz trucks, 140 Humvees, and two tanks.
Video from May 2023 showed Taliban convoys of American-made vehicles heading to Afghanistan’s Iranian borderfollowing border skirmishes. The Taliban maintains its fleet by cannibalizing parts from other vehicles.
Infrastructure and Funds
Beyond military hardware, the Taliban gained access to $7.4 billion in infrastructure including powerlines, roads, bridges, schools, and hospitals—much of which had fallen into disrepair or was not being used for its intended purpose.
Millions of dollars were sitting in Afghan government accounts when the Taliban took over in 2021. “The United States was unable to recover these funds and SIGAR determined that it is likely that the Taliban were able to access at least a portion of this money when they took over Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance,” the report stated.
The Weapons Spread
Some US weapons left in Afghanistan have turned up in other conflicts. Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir reported that militants are carrying M4s, M16s, and other US-made arms that fell into Taliban hands.
The BBC reported that half a million weapons obtained by the Taliban have been lost, sold, or smuggled to militant groups, with the UN believing some have fallen into the hands of al-Qaeda affiliates.
Why It Happened
The withdrawal agreement was negotiated by the Trump administration with the Taliban in 2020. The Biden administration carried out the actual withdrawal in August 2021.
SIGAR’s findings suggested that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces had become reliant on the US military. The sudden withdrawal “destroyed the morale of Afghan soldiers and police,” the report stated.
The Broader Failure
“The biggest thing throughout the whole 20 years was corruption affected everything,” Acting Inspector General Aloise told reporters, describing Afghanistan’s government as essentially a white-collar criminal enterprise.
Multiple factors contributed to the failure, including early and ongoing US decisions to ally with corrupt powerbrokers, which bolstered the insurgency and undermined the mission. Efforts to improve Afghanistan’s economic and social conditions failed to have a lasting impact.
Costs Beyond Money
More than 2,450 US servicemembers were killed during the 20-year war. More than 20,700 US servicemembers were injured. Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians also lost their lives.
Continued Aid
Even after the military withdrawal, the US government continued to be the Taliban-ruled country’s largest donor, with disbursements totaling $120 million in March 2025 alone.
SIGAR will close its doors on January 31, 2026, pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025.
