Republicans Inflate Cost Of Taliban-Seized U.S. Military Equipment (From FactCheck.org)

Lexington COO Loren Thompson was quoted in a FactCheck.org analysis of Congressional Republican claims that the Taliban had seized U.S. military equipment worth $85 billion after the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Not only was the value of the equipment far less than $85 billion, but most of the equipment is likely inoperable by the Taliban. “U.S. military equipment tends to require extensive support from technical specialists,” said Thompson. “In the absence of such specialists, much of it will run down due to wear and a lack of spare parts.”

“This applies in particular to aircraft, many of which will likely be grounded in short order,” he continued. “Vehicles will also tend to wear out fairly quickly because of inadequate maintenance. MRAPs [mine resistant ambush protected vehicles] will be especially hard to keep operating because they consume copious amounts of fuel which will likely be in scarce supply.”

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