Commemorating one year of the departure of United States troops from Afghan soil, The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – the name the Taliban gave their government held a military parade on September 1, 2022.
The parade was held at the former US base at Bagram, once the largest US military base in Afghanistan. The Taliban government showed off its reformed armed forces, which it had to build almost from the ground up after the war’s end with the captured US and NATO military equipment, as well as multi-barrelled rocket and ballistic missile systems during the Soviet-Afghan War.
The US provided more than $7 billion in military equipment to the former Afghan government; according to sources, much of it ended up in the hands of the Islamic Emirate following the withdrawal of US troops and the country’s sudden collapse.
According to a report from the Pentagon, the US abandoned tactical ground vehicles like MRAPs and Humvees, which cost about $4.12 billion in Afghanistan. “The DoD estimated that US-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed, much of which has since been seized by the Taliban,” the report wrote. “This included military aircraft, ground vehicles, weapons, and other military equipment.” In a video broadcast by the media wing of the Taliban, multiple BM-21 Grad and BM-27 Uragan rocket launchers, Frog-7 artillery rockets, and even Scud-B ballistic missiles were displayed.
Regarding the Scud-B missile, it is reported that Taliban militants found the Scud-B ballistic missile and its warhead in the Panjshir Valley in eastern Afghanistan last year. According to open sources, several hundred of these Scud-B ballistic missile systems were provided to the Afghan government in the 1980s by the communist regime of the Soviet Union as military aid.
The Scud-B is classified as a tactical ballistic missile with a range of up to 300 km, with a possible circular error (CEP) of 450-900 meters. These missiles are designed to attack strategic enemy targets such as airfields, command posts, large concentrations of troops and combat vehicles, air defence batteries, and fuel depots.
There is no information on whether this Scud-B ballistic missile can still operate properly or how many units are feasible to use from the hundreds that exist.
