Taliban Take Joyride In Discarded US Helicopter At Afghanistan Air Base

Footage of an air base in Afghanistan reportedly shows Taliban fighters trying and failing to get a helicopter off the ground.

Jahid Jalal uploaded a video to Twitter explaining how the US military aircraft was given to Afghani forces to enforce the safety of the country.

However, local soldiers were overwhelmed when the Taliban launched a massive operation and took control of the country.

When they did that, they also took control of all the military weapons, devices, vehicles and aircraft that America has supplied over the years.

This vastly increases the technological capability of the Taliban and there are concerns they will be able to cement their rule with their new toys.

Jahid wrote alongside the clip posted on social media: "Parts of Kabul airport have been conquered, clearing is underway and the American occupiers are taking over. The airport will soon be fully under the control of the Islamic Emirate's Mujahideen. God willing.

"Preparing for flights at Kandahar Airport, the wrecked Black Hawk American helicopter was built and ready for operation."

However, just because you have the toys, doesn't mean you'll be any good at using them.

The footage shows the US helicopter teeter around the air base for around a minute but is unable to take off.

Bradley Bowman, former Black Hawk pilot in the US Army, told NPR that it would take some time before militants will be able to properly operate these new machines.

"It's not something that you can do in a week or a month. Someone could get in there, maybe find some operating manuals and figure out how to get the engine started, the rotors turning and get it up in the air," he said.

"But they'd probably be more of a danger to themselves than to anyone else at that point."

Considering they haven't had years of training like the Afghan local forces have, it's hardly surprising they aren't able to operate the aircraft properly.

But the Taliban has wasted no time in showing off the haul they have reaped thanks to the local and international retreat.

US National security adviser Jake Sullivan admitted earlier this week: "We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban."

Fighters have posted photos and videos of fighters operating trucks, Humvees, artillery guns and night-vision goggles, which don't need much training to utilise effectively.

It's estimated that billions of dollars' worth of equipment has been left behind and now the Taliban has it all.

Topics: News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie