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Dec. 5, 2021 - Epoch Times
20:19
Guns, Jets, Humvees: How $86b American Weaponry is Bolstering Taliban’s Military | Facts Matter
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Good evening.
Over in Afghanistan, we have gotten a clearer picture of exactly how much U.S. military equipment the Taliban was able to get their hands on.
And frankly, it is a lot.
And all of it comes at a time when rockets are now being fired at the Kabul airport as Americans are trying to evacuate the country.
Meanwhile, according to a new report, Pfizer is beginning to hire a brand new sales force in order to establish a foothold in the new vaccine booster market.
In fact, one professor said that in the very near future, you will not be able to turn on your TV without seeing several COVID vaccine ads.
And lastly, 16 years to the very day that Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, well, another even stronger hurricane has just touched down.
That's right, a Category 4 storm named Hurricane Ida has just blown through Louisiana, devastating the state and leaving all of New Orleans without power.
Let's go through it all together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion over in Afghanistan.
As we already discussed in a previous episode, the Taliban, as they swept through the country, they were able to gain possession of an enormous amount of U.S. military equipment.
Specifically, they were able to get not only what our U.S. troops were forced to leave behind, but also the Taliban gained possession of almost everything that America bought for the Afghan army.
So what that means, in essence, is that within the course of about a week, America's $83 billion investment into the Afghan army is now all in the hands of the Taliban.
However, since our earlier report, more details have been revealed about what specific items fell to the Taliban.
And frankly, the picture looks pretty stark.
In fact, let's go through these items together so that you can get a picture of what your hard-earned tax dollars paid for.
Now, there have been some differing reports of the inventory inside of these stockpiles, but the best account of it that I was able to find online came from the London Times.
And here's what it says.
We can start with what the Taliban found in the Afghan armored garrisons, which for your reference, by the way, there were seven different garrisons of the Afghan army that the Taliban overran.
And as you can imagine, they were filled with U.S. military equipment.
So here is specifically what they were able to get.
22,000 armored Humvees.
634 M117 armored security vehicles, 155 MX Pro mineproof vehicles, 169 M113 armored personnel carriers, 42,000 pickup trucks and SUVs, 8,000 trucks, 64,000 machine guns, 162,000 radios, 16,000 night vision goggles, 358,000 assault rifles, 126,000 pistols, and 176 artillery pieces.
And that was, again, what they were able to get just from the Afghan garrisons.
And in addition to that, the U.S. military, when they left, here's what they left behind.
Over 100 helicopters, including 33 Blackhawks, 33 MI-17s, and 43 MD530s.
Furthermore, they left over 60 airplanes, including four C-130 transports, 23 A-29s, And just for your reference, by the way, if you take the $83 billion that we spent outfitting the Afghan army over the past 20 years,
and you divide that number by the number of American citizens who are over the age of 18, then you get approximately every tax-paying American having paid about $397 in Taliban equipment.
Now, of course, not all of that money went to outfitting the Taliban.
Over the last 20 years, the Afghan army has been fighting against them.
However, it is just a small reminder that all of the equipment was paid for ultimately by you and me, and it's now in the hands of the Taliban.
Now, after this news came to light, 25 Republican senators wrote an open letter to the Biden administration Saying this in part, As we watched the images coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban retook the country, we were horrified to see U.S. equipment, including UH-60 Blackhawks, in the hands of the Taliban.
Securing U.S. assets should have been among the top priorities for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to announcing the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That letter then went on to request an accounting of what exactly happened, what equipment exactly was lost, as well as what efforts the administration is taking to either recapture or to destroy this equipment.
Thus far, there's not been an answer to this letter, and when we hear more developments from the administration on that front, we'll let you know right away.
However, while we're on the topic of Afghanistan, let's discuss the airstrike that was conducted over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Pentagon confirmed that two high-profile ISIS-K terrorists were killed in Afghanistan after a U.S. drone strike.
Here's specifically what a statement from Major General William Taylor said.
Yesterday, U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation Then, in terms of who those two individuals were, here's what John Kirby, who is the Pentagon spokesperson, here's what he added.
They lost a planner and they lost a facilitator, and they've got one wounded.
And the fact that two of these individuals are no longer walking on the face of the earth, that's a good thing.
It's a good thing for the people of Afghanistan.
It's a good thing for our troops and our forces at that airfield.
And I think I'm just going to leave it at that.
Furthermore, he did decline to disclose the identities of those two individuals.
And so that was what happened on Saturday.
Then on Sunday the next day, another military spokesman confirmed that a subsequent airstrike hit a suicide bomber who was in a car headed to the Kabul airport.
Here's what a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command said in regards to that second airstrike.
U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense unmanned over-the-horizon airstrike today on a vehicle in Kabul, eliminating an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamad Karzai International Airport.
We are confident we successfully hit the target.
Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.
We are assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties, though we have no indications at this time.
However, those indications changed very quickly, and now there is an ongoing investigation after several reports came out that there were in fact civilian casualties following that second strike.
Specifically, according to Central Command, according to that same spokesman, it was likely not the drone strike that led to those civilian casualties, but rather it was the subsequent explosion from inside the car.
Here's what he said.
He added that they are again further investigating.
Now, one thing worth noting here is that while ISIS is assumed to be behind those two explosions at the airport, the ones that unfortunately killed 13 American troops, It's not impossible that the Taliban actually had something to do with it as well.
In fact, Amrullah Saleh, who is the acting president of Afghanistan, he's currently working to rally people against the Taliban, here's what he posted on Twitter.
Every evidence we have in hand shows that ISIS-K terrorist cells have their roots in Taleb's Taliban-Hakini network, particularly the ones operating in Kabul.
Furthermore, during an interview four days ago with a news outlet, here's what he added.
We knew from two or three days ago that the Taliban wanted to end the airport disaster with a series of bombings.
They spread the word that ISIL wanted to carry out bombings.
The Taliban is behind today's, Thursday's bombing.
Now, at the moment, it's not exactly clear whether the Taliban is in fact working alongside ISIS. However, the U.S. official position is that they have now ruled out that possibility, specifically given the fact that the Taliban emptied several prisons across Afghanistan and allowed thousands of ISIS prisoners to escape.
And so we'll just have to wait and see whether any more public intelligence is revealed on that front.
Now, lastly, the deadline for getting all Americans out of Afghanistan is tomorrow, which is August 31st.
And according to a statement from Anthony Blinken, who is the Secretary of State, we are getting close to getting all Americans out.
Here's what he told ABC News just yesterday.
We are down to a population of 300 or fewer Americans who are still on the ground there.
And we are working actively in these hours and these days to get those folks out.
However, earlier today, earlier on Monday, multiple rockets were fired at the airport.
According to a U.S. official who spoke under the condition of anonymity with Reuters, he said that as many as five rockets were fired at the airport and intercepted by our missile defense systems.
Then later, the White House confirmed that this happened, with Jen Psaki saying that Joe Biden had been briefed about the situation, and then she added this: "The president was informed that operations continue uninterrupted at the airport, and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to prioritize doing whatever is necessary to protect our forces on the and has reconfirmed his order that commanders redouble their efforts to By the way, according to local Afghan media reports, they said that those rocket attacks actually came from rocket launchers, which were mounted to the back of a vehicle.
However, even with these rockets being fired at the airport, as well as with the real possibility and looming threat of more suicide bombings, according to official reports, the evacuation is still ongoing without any delay in flights.
And for your reference, there are currently about 4,000 troops who are still stationed at the airport, with Joe Biden having publicly stated that the withdrawal will be completed by August 31st, which is again tomorrow.
I personally wish the very best for all the troops who are going to be the last to leave, especially the ones who are going to be the last to leave, because the rear guard in such a situation is likely not an easy position to be in.
Now, if you'd like to read more about anything that we've discussed thus far, including a full breakdown of all the military equipment that the Taliban now has access to, I'll throw all that into the description box below this video so you can dig through it for yourself.
And now, before we move on over and discuss the new marketing push that Pfizer is planning for their new vaccine booster shots, I would like to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, and I will do so from the sound booth.
I wanted to take a quick moment and introduce our sponsor for today's episode, which is an awesome company called AMAC, and it stands for the Association of Mature American Citizens.
Now, I do consider myself a mature American citizen, but I'm about 19 years too young to join AMAC. However, if you or someone in your family is 50 years old or over, I would consider joining because they are essentially the conservative alternative to the AARP and they offer three main benefits to their members.
The first is the money-saving benefit because they partner with a ton of retailers across the country and offer you discounts on things like vitamins, insurance policies, and so on.
The list is pretty long.
I'll throw a link to it in the description box below.
The second is that members get a subscription to their magazine.
And even though I'm not a member, I have read their magazine and it's filled with thought-provoking articles.
Very good.
I'd highly recommend it.
And then the third benefit, which a lot of people say is their favorite, is that AMAC fights on Capitol Hill against what they're calling the socialist storm that's brewing in America.
So again, I would highly recommend you check them out.
It's not too expensive.
And now let's talk about Pfizer.
And to start with, according to this report in the Financial Times, We're good to go.
And ahead of that, these new job listings over on LinkedIn, they highlight how Pfizer is essentially preparing for the next phase of the pandemic, which will involve marketing its annual booster shots in order to compete with other companies like Moderna.
Here's a company from Pfizer that was quoted in the Financial Times.
We plan to take a thoughtful approach to marketing and advertising Comirnaty to the public during this time, with the goal of increasing confidence in vaccination as we continue to combat the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
Just for your reference, by the way, if you've never heard of it before, Comirnaty is the new name of the Pfizer vaccine.
And according to the company, it comes from a combination of several words, from COVID... Now, moving forward, Pfizer is going to be working with the New York-based advertising agency called Ogilvy, who will be handling their advertising, which is likely to include television, online, social media, as well as billboards.
And according to one of their posted job descriptions over on LinkedIn, not only will Pfizer be targeting adults for their booster shots, but they will also be focusing their marketing efforts on parents whose children are between the ages of 12 and 15 years old, And then eventually, on parents whose kids are between the ages of 5 and 11 years old.
Now, according to one marketing professor who was quoted in that article, he said that besides appealing directly to the consumers, Pfizer has to encourage vaccine administrators, such as pharmacies, to use their shot rather than switching over to Moderna.
Here's what this professor said will likely happen.
You're going to see marketing to the scale of what we've seen in the past with Viagra and Humira.
You turn on the TV and you can't watch a show without 10 different commercials coming on.
If you'd like to read more about this upcoming marketing push by Pfizer, I'll throw the article into the description box below this video for you to check out, and all I ask in return is that you take a quick second to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And now let's move on over to Missouri.
According to Missouri's attorney general, a large human trafficking operation has just succeeded in rescuing 47 victims and arresting 102 people.
Here's specifically what the attorney general's office released as a part of their statement.
Using both buyer-centric and victim-centric sting human trafficking operations, Missouri and participating states were able to rescue 47 victims and sex workers and provide needed medical services to 41 and arrested 102 across the country in connection with human trafficking.
Now this operation, which was officially called Operation United Front, was led by the Missouri attorney general's office with the other 11 states conducting simultaneous operations in conjunction with Missouri.
Now, not many details of how these operations actually worked were provided, likely because they'd like to keep their operations low-key, since, given the fact that they led to so many arrests, they are likely effective, and they would be less effective if people knew how they worked.
However, we do know that according to the information that was provided by the Missouri Attorney General's office, the operation rescued victims and made arrests across 12 different states.
Now, according to the Missouri Attorney General, this type of interstate cooperation is not actually very common, but it is quite effective.
Here's what he said.
Operation United Front was an unprecedented human trafficking operation that brought together law enforcement agencies from different jurisdictions, something that rarely happens.
When we all come together, we can affect change and more effectively fight human trafficking, a crime that is often multi-jurisdictional in nature.
Which, I think, regardless of your political affiliation, is a cause that we can all get behind.
If you'd like to read more about Operation United Front, I'll throw the link to an article about it into the description box below this video, which is, again, the description box that is right below that like button, which I hope you take a quick moment to smash.
And now let's move on over to Louisiana, where a devastating hurricane has just hit.
That's right, as you've likely already heard, Hurricane Ida, which was a Category 4 hurricane, it smashed into Louisiana and pretty much devastated the state with 150 mph winds.
According to their local energy provider, as of right now, the entire city of New Orleans is without power, with the only electricity that people are able to get is that which is coming from generators.
Which is okay in theory, as long as the powder outage doesn't last too long.
If it does last long, then people, especially people in hospitals, will be in a very dire situation.
Now interestingly, really interesting to note, is that Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana on August 29th, which is on the very same date, 16 years ago, that Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana.
For your reference, by the way, Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 hurricane, meaning that this hurricane, this Hurricane Ida, was even more powerful.
And if you remember, back in 2005, besides killing over 1,800 people, Hurricane Katrina caused more than $100 billion in property damage, mainly due to the storm overwhelming the levees that were supposed to hold it back.
But since then, there was a $14 billion risk reduction plan which was implemented after Katrina in order to contain these types of surges.
And according to the Louisiana governor, he said that according to the digital models that he's looking at, their new levee system should, at least, in theory, be able to withstand the storm.
Here's what he said.
And so we'll just have to wait and see whether the new flood prevention measures will actually hold up.
However, what we do know is that Hurricane Ida struck a crucial energy infrastructure hub And this can have a very big impact on the rest of the country.
That's because Louisiana's refineries, they make up almost 20% of the entire country's refining capacity.
And 60% of the gas used on the East Coast comes from Gulf Coast refineries, refineries in Louisiana.
This led Jeff Masters, who is the founder of the oddly named Weather Underground, which is actually a weather company, to say this.
Where Ida is striking is just the absolute worst place for a hurricane.
Now, given the footage that we're seeing, it's very likely the case that this is just the beginning of a long story.
It's definitely the beginning of a long recovery.
In fact, here's how the Louisiana governor summed up the situation.
There is no doubt that the coming days and weeks are going to be extremely difficult for our state and many, many people are going to be tested in ways that we can only imagine.
And along that line, both my team as well as myself, we're heading down to Louisiana later today.
And so starting tomorrow, we will be reporting from there, from the ground, so you can know what's happening firsthand.
Until then, I'll throw links into the description box to articles of what we know thus far so you can check them out if you'd like to learn more.
And lastly, as I've already mentioned in several previous episodes, on the very same day that Joe Biden was sworn into office, YouTube, coincidentally, made the decision to unilaterally deny advertising to our program.
We can now no longer run any ads before, during, or after episodes, and the Super Chat feature has just been disabled.
They're essentially trying to snuff out our independent journalism.
However, we here at the Epoch Times, we did not take this lying down, and instead we created something very cool.
It's called Epic TV.
It's our brand new no-censorship video platform where you can find all of the awesome Epic Times video programs, like The Larry Elder Show, Crossroads with Joshua Phillip, China in Focus, Life and Times, American Thought Leaders, Counterpunch with Trevor Loudon, our awesome documentaries like The Dark Origins of Communism, as well as, of course, my program, our awesome documentaries like The Dark Origins of Communism, as well as, And on there, we'll publish exclusive episodes that, due to the censorship here on YouTube, I just do not feel comfortable publishing on this platform.
If you'd like to check out Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it right there at the top of the description box.
I hope you click on it, I hope you subscribe, and I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
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I publish spicy memes as well as behind-the-scenes research.
And while I'll be down in Louisiana, I'll be posting behind-the-scenes things there if we have internet.
I don't know.
There seems to be a large blackout over in Louisiana.
Until next time, I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
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