KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior Taliban official said that U.S. military equipment left behind in Afghanistan should be considered “spoils of war,” responding to President Trump’s calls to reclaim the abandoned weaponry.
Abdul Latif Mansoor, the Taliban’s minister of water and energy, made the remarks during a ceremony in Kabul on Friday, marking the anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“Trump, listen to this: The equipment we took is our war booty, just like the Russian tanks we seized, which are still in the valleys,” Mansoor said. “This is our right. You fled. This is spoils of war. Now we should demand compensation for the destruction of Afghanistan.”
Trump has previously criticized the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the military left behind equipment worth billions of dollars.
Taliban seized a vast arsenal of U.S.-supplied weapons, vehicles, and aircraft after retaking control of the country in August 2021, much of it abandoned by Afghan security forces as they collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s advance.
