In a development raising grave regional security concerns, the Afghan Taliban have seized over 15,000 military vehicles, advanced weapons, and tactical equipment once belonging to the former Afghan government much of which has now found its way into the hands of militant groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
According to news reports, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that the weapons and equipment were collected over the past four months during an extensive sweep through Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, and Nuristan. The seized arsenal now under Taliban control includes more than 12,000 sophisticated weapons and 3,500 government vehicles.
The operation, carried out under direct orders from the Taliban’s leadership, has no international oversight and has drawn sharp criticism from regional observers. Despite the Taliban’s public statements urging civilians to return state-owned assets, security agencies have verified that many of these weapons are now being used in cross-border terror attacks.
Intelligence sources and forensic analyses confirm that thermal imaging rifles, sniper-grade weapons, and other tactical gear originally seized by the Taliban have been used in major terrorist operations including the Jaffar Express train attack, targeted killings of law enforcement personnel, and coordinated assaults in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Weapons traced back to Taliban stockpiles are now a key feature of TTP and BLA operations, intensifying violence along Pakistan’s western border. Security experts warn that the Taliban’s unregulated seizure and redistribution of former U.S.-supplied military equipment has turned Afghanistan into a central hub for arming regional insurgent networks.
Despite mounting evidence, the Afghan Taliban have offered no clarification on how these weapons are reaching proscribed groups operating in Pakistan. The silence has only deepened fears that the Taliban regime is either unwilling or unable to prevent the export of violence beyond its borders.
As the security landscape deteriorates, regional stability is increasingly threatened by the unintended consequences of the Taliban’s unchecked militarisation of Afghanistan’s former state infrastructure.
