Remember those hundreds of millions, if not billions, in weapons and miliary equipment that were left behind in Afghanistan when Biden withdrew in 2021 and the military somehow didn’t think of dealing with all the equipment before fleeing? Well the Taliban and Putin remember it and now Putin wants it for his war in Ukraine.
At least, that’s what a Telegram channel is claiming. That channel is General SVR, the admins of which claim to be former Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) members. Republic World, reporting on their claims, said that Putin is working on acquiring the leftover weapons in exchange for recognition of the Taliban as a state. In its words:
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin is planning to procure the weaponry left behind during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal by the US Army, a Kremlin insider said, according to the Taliban based Telegram channel General SVR. Putin has been in process of negotiating with the terror group to procure leftover arms to be used by Russian forces in the ongoing military offensive in Ukraine in exchange for recognising the Taliban government, the source claimed. Those insider sources familiar with the development, and the details of the negotiations between the militant group and the Kremlin, said that the Taliban are extremely “surprised” with such a proposal” and that they have been “discussing the same earnestly.”
“Putin is overseeing negotiations with the Taliban to recognise the Taliban government. In return, the Russian leadership is offering a major arms and military equipment swap,” General SVR channel wrote.
“Putin reported that the Taliban possess weapons and equipment including those seized after coming to power in Afghanistan, that are scarce for the Russian Army at the front,” it further stated.
Weapons the Russians would want is unclear. Perhaps the MRAPs would be useful, but Russians don’t use NATO-standard weaponry nor do they have spare parts and ammunition for those weapons, so their usefulness would be limited at best. One possibility is that they’re trying to buy up whatever Soviet-era equipment the US had bought for the Afghan National Army and use those weapons and that equipment to replenish their stockpiles.
That’s what the Telegram SVR channel claimed. Whether it is true or not is another matter, as it’s been involved in making up wild claims about Putin before. In early December, for instance, it claimed that President Putin had fallen down the stairs, involuntarily soiling himself in the process, a story that Western media ran wild with but never proved.
Business Insider, noting some of the other wild claims of General SVR, said:
They range from alleging in May that Putin would temporarily hand over power in order to have cancer surgery; to saying Putin had a coughing fit just before his September speech announcing the mobilization of reservists.
The most recent, scatological claim prompted a rare public denial from the Kremlin, which told Newsweek: “This is completely untrue.”
So, there’s a report that Putin is seeking to trade diplomatic recognition for left-behind weapons. The claim could be true, as the war in Ukraine has turned into a meatgrinder of both men and equipment for the Ukrainians and the Russians. However, the channel making the claim is also behind other wild, unproven allegations about Putin. So take it with a grain of salt.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
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