How US weapons left behind in Afghanistan are impacting Pakistan’s internal security
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Technology’s evolution and the advancements of modern means of communication, particularly digital and social media platforms, have transformed contemporary terrorism into a tech-savvy enterprise. Likewise, the democratization of violence and the easy availability of new and emerging technologies, such as commercially available drones, 3D-printed firearms and self-driven vehicles, have lowered the entry barriers to terrorism and added to terrorist groups’ lethality and accuracy. Consequently, terrorist recruitment, propaganda dissemination and ideologization have also moved from physical to cyberspace. In sum, the diffusion of modern technologies has made terrorism cost-effective, hard to detect and challenging to eliminate.
In August 2021, when the US withdrew from Afghanistan, it left behind $7.12 billion of military equipment, including small and light weapons, night vision devices and military communication gears. Gradually, these weapons and devices have permeated into different conflict theatres in Pakistan and beyond. On May 16, for instance, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) published photos of its recruits on social media platforms wearing modern military fatigues, brandishing US weapons, including thermal vision equipped rifles and helmets, laser sights and suppressed rifles. Similarly, another TTP video released in August 2022 showed its trainees carrying M24 sniper guns, M16 4A rifles with thermal scopes, M4 carbines with Trijicon ACOG scopes, DShKM heavy machine guns and 107mm Type 85 single-tube rocket launchers. In March, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif acknowledged the use of US weapons by TTP, following a spate of attacks against law enforcement agencies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, resulting in higher numbers of casualties.
Immediately after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, TTP used long range sniper rifles fitted thermal vision devices to target the Pakistan Army troops stationed at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. These attacks resulted in a sudden increase in security forces’ casualties between January-May 2022. Likewise, TTP has also used these weapons to carry out night-time targeted assassinations of police personnel in Peshawar, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts. In 2022, as many as 118 police personnel were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in terrorist attacks, while in the first four months of 2023 there have been 120 police killings. Similarly, Baloch separatists have intermittently used US weapons while ambushing Pakistani security forces. For instance, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) employed US weapons when it attacked the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) camps in Noshki and Panjgur districts in February 2022.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police has no effective counterstrategy against TTP’s nighttime raids and ambushes. Due to night vision devices, TTP can see the police guards stationed at check posts and other key points in the dark, while they cannot.
Abdul Basit Khan
In the 1990’s, Pakistan’s weapon markets were awash with Russian firearms following the latter’s exit from Afghanistan. Now these markets are flooded with US weapons as their demand in Afghanistan has eased with the end of the war. They have been smuggled into Pakistan where their demand has soared in the last two years for their superior quality and accuracy. According to a New York Times report, in Pakistan’s gun market, a single US-service Beretta M9 handgun is available for $1,200, M4 assault rifle for $1,400, Glock handgun for $1,500, M4 carbines for $4,000, NATO-supplied pistols for $300 and the military communication gear Harris Engineering Falcon Three Radios for & 3,500. Most of the transactions for these weapons are in Pakistani rupees and in cash. Other US weapons available in the Pakistani black-market include M16 machine guns, M24 sniper rifles and M16 A4 guns with Pulsar Apex XD50 thermal scopes.
The Taliban, barring some exceptions, deny giving these weapons to TTP or other militant groups. But security experts, government officials and weapons research groups like War Noir, maintain that many of these weapons are now in the hands of the TTP. Some believe the cash-strapped Taliban leaders are covertly selling these weapons in the black market to earn money. Separately, the Taliban also allowed their foot soldiers to sell some of the small and light weapons they captured during the August 2021 takeover of Afghanistan.
The impact of US weapons on Pakistan’s internal conflicts has been devastating at the tactical level. Apparently, these weapons have boosted the operational capabilities of militant and insurgent groups. They have added to the lethality and accuracy of their attacks, creating a false impression of gaining a tactical upper hand against security forces. Furthermore, they are also a great source of propaganda generation to attract new recruits and funding. The possession of these weapons and military communication gear add to the thrill factor of would-be-militants to join these groups.
On the contrary, the permeation of these weapons in Pakistan’s conflict theatres have turned the under-resources and ill-equipped police force, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, as sitting ducks. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police has no effective counterstrategy against TTP’s nighttime raids and ambushes. Due to night vision devices, TTP can see the police guards stationed at check posts and other key points in the dark, while they cannot.
The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan and the proliferation of US weapons in Pakistan’s asymmetric conflict has been a double whammy for the country’s law enforcement agencies. To overcome this challenge, along with revisiting its counterterrorism framework, Pakistan will have to increase the monitoring of covert gun markets. Furthermore, Pakistan will have to explore options to procure specialized counterterrorism equipment to neutralize TTP’s tactical advantage.
- The author is a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. Twitter @basitresearcher.
