Russian Foreign Ministry: Rumors of Moscow selling weapons to the Taliban nonsense

Moscow (ST): The Russian envoy to Afghanistan, Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Zamir Kabulov, confirmed today that Moscow does not intend to sell weapons to the Afghan Taliban, and all that is rumored about this is “nonsense.”

 Commenting on news about supplying the Taliban with weapons, Kabulov told Sputnik: “The Taliban do not need any weapons. They have enough of them. The Americans left a lot of weapons there, enough for two countries.”

Kabulov added: “We have to think that due to lack of money, the Taliban may sell these weapons, especially portable anti-aircraft systems, which the Americans must have abandoned when they fled the area, and these weapons may fall into the hands of terrorist groups.” 

The US forces withdrawing from Afghanistan left $85 billion worth of equipment and weapons, including 22,000 armored vehicles, 358,000 automatic rifles, 176 artillery pieces, 8,000 freight vehicles, a large number of transport aircraft, and more than 100 helicopters.

K.Q.