US President Donald Trump has called for the return of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment left behind in Afghanistan after the

2021 US withdrawal

. He also pressed for the removal of military leaders involved in what he described as a disastrous exit.
“We left billions, tens of billions of dollars’ worth of equipment behind. Brand new trucks,” Trump said during his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “You see them display it every year, on their little roadways. That’s all top-of-the-line stuff. I think we should get a lot of that equipment back.”

The Taliban seized most of the more than $7 billion worth of US military equipment left in Afghanistan, according to a 2022 department of defence report. While US troops removed or destroyed major assets during the drawdown, aircraft, ground vehicles, and other weapons were abandoned. The Pentagon has stated that much of the equipment would likely become inoperable without US maintenance.

Trump’s remarks came as he responded to questions about whether he would fire military officials responsible for the withdrawal. While he said he would not dictate decisions to defence secretary Pete Hegseth, he was clear in his stance. “I’m not going to tell this man what to do, but I will say that if I had his place, I’d fire every single one of them, Pete,” he said.
Hegseth confirmed that under his leadership, the department of defence is conducting a thorough review of the Afghanistan withdrawal and plans to hold individuals accountable. “We’re taking a very different view, obviously, than the previous administration,” Hegseth said, pointing to Trump’s nomination of retired Air Force lieutenant general John Dan “Razin” Caine as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “And there will be full accountability.”
Trump expects the Pentagon’s review to lead to the removal of most generals involved in the withdrawal, which saw American citizens and US allies left behind, billions of dollars in military equipment abandoned, and 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing at Abbey Gate outside Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“I don’t see a big promotion in that group,” Trump said of the officials involved. “I think they’re going to be largely gone. That was a horrible display.”
“The outcome in Afghanistan was the result of many decisions from many years of war,” Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired army general Mark Milley testified. “Like any complex phenomena, there was no single causal factor that determined the outcome.”
US Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, was responsible for the withdrawal.
Trump also called on the Taliban to return US military equipment, claiming that Afghanistan has become “one of the biggest sellers of military equipment in the world,” profiting from abandoned US weapons, armour, and machinery.
“I think they should give our equipment back. And I told Pete to study that,” Trump said.