The Taliban is not happy over revelations US troops disabled all their fancy equipment before evacuating from Afghanistan.
The militant organisation seemingly swept through and took control of the country in a matter of days, however American authorities knew they were coming so decided to pull a fast one on them.
All the aircraft abandoned in Kabul were 'demilitarised' and would not be operational by the time Taliban fighters discovered them.
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While it's a massive middle finger to the Taliban, it still represents billions of dollars' worth of equipment that is now useless.
An Al Jazeera reporter toured Kabul's airport with the Taliban as they inspected all the helicopters and planes.
"When I said to them, 'why do you think that the Americans would have left everything operational for you?' They said because we believe it is a national asset and we are the government now and this could have come to great use for us," she said in a report.
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"They are disappointed, they are angry, they feel betrayed because all of this equipment is broken beyond repair."
They genuinely 'expected the Americans to leave helicopters like this in one piece for their use' because the US gave the equipment to Afghanistan and they now control the country.
Authorities demilitarised the aircraft by removing propellers, guns and landing wheels. The Taliban would also need to do constant upkeep and maintenance on the aircraft to ensure they're able to fly.
US authorities also evacuated 46 Afghan aircraft, including 24 helicopters, to neighbouring Uzbekistan as the Taliban was advancing toward Kabul.
Marine General Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, said they disabled roughly 70 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, 27 Humvees and 73 aircraft before they left.
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"They'll never be able to be operated by anyone. Most of them were non-mission capable to begin with," he said.
He added that they waited until the last minute to disable Kabul airport's counter rocket, artillery and mortar system as they didn't want their troops to come under attack at the 11th hour.
Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said they did leave some equipment operational, like fire trucks and forklifts, however that was only to help the airport in the months ahead.
"[The Taliban] can inspect all they want. They can look at them, they can walk around, but they can't fly them. They can't operate them," Kirby told CNN.
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"We made sure to demilitarise, to make unusable, all the gear that is at the airport - all the aircraft, all the ground vehicles."
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