No, The Taliban Didn’t Capture An Arsenal Of Tankshttps://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/09/no-the-taliban-didnt-capture-an-arsenal-of-tanks/Video circulated online this week that suggested in addition to the vast quantities of American military hardware that was supplied to the Afghan Army and captured by the Taliban, the insurgent group may have seized an arsenal of tanks. The footage showed “row after row” of tanks and other armored vehicles that the Taliban now possess.
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The Sun newspaper was among the outlets hyping up the fact that the Taliban now has a significant tank force – but the vehicles probably aren’t of much use to the group. What the Taliban have captured is actually akin to a “used car lot” or junkyard of aging and even antiquated vehicles.
“There has been a lot of hype surrounding heavy equipment the Taliban has ‘inherited,'” explained John Adams-Graf, editor of Military Vehicles Magazine. “All of the material in this footage is quite old – at least 30-40 years. While dramatic and potentially frightening to outsiders, it appears the Taliban had stumbled into a tank or vehicle boneyard, rather than a stockpile of ready-to-roll vehicles.”
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“What I saw in this short video will be to the best advantage to the Taliban if they intend to become exporters to collectors or small governments,” Adams-Graf told this reporter. “Though I couldn’t make out all the varieties, I did notice a large collection of Soviet-pattern T54/T55 tanks, which date back to before US involvement in Vietnam; BTR-60s, wheeled armored vehicles that would be very useful in Afghanistan, but they do require a lot of maintenance; BMP armored personnel carriers, again, great for moving troops if you have the crews to maintain the vehicles; and even a ZSU-23-4 anti-aircraft tracked vehicle.”
The Soviets did use the T54 in Afghanistan. It was introduced in 1947, basically a generation-and-half later successor to the famous T34. There was a T44, but it was not produced in high quantity. The T54/T55 were a mainstay for the Soviets into the 1980s, though the T72 superseded it.
Like the planes and helicopters captured by the Taliban,
IF operational, it sounds like these would be mainly useful in putting down attempted rebellions rather than significant threats to neighboring countries.
