US trashes unwanted gear in Afghanistan to be sold as scrap

US trashes unwanted gear in Afghanistan to be sold as scrap

The idea is to bring back useful and sensitive things to the U.S., or to transfer such things to the Afghan military. Then, as for things not necessary to return to the U.S. and not needed by the Afghan military, destroy anything left behind that could otherwise be useful for the enemy.

The practice is to destroy everything left behind and not needed by the Afghan military apparently with no regard as to whether or not the things could be used by the enemy. Completely. Vehicles are so shredded that they are only good as scrap metal, not for spare parts. Tents are shredded. Even exercise equipment gets destroyed.

Quote:

Not so long ago, U.S. forces discovered two Humvees that had found their way into enemy hands. They had been refitted and packed with explosives. U.S. troops destroyed the vehicles, and the incident reinforced a policy of trashing equipment. But Afghan scrap yard owners and dozens of others who sifted through the junk in the yards wondered what dangers could have been posed by a treadmill that was torn apart, the long lengths of fire hose that were cut to pieces, or the bags once used to create large sand-barrier walls with their powerful mesh fabric now sliced and useless. Dozens of tents cut and sliced sat in piles on the floor. Nearby were fuel bags and gutted generators,

Seems heavy handed and unnecessary.

via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/33un3u0