Preparing for its planned withdrawal from the region, US troops are dismantling and destroying equipment and gear that it cannot remove from Afghanistan, selling some as scrap metal to locals, Politico reports.

Nearing the end of a 20-year war in the region, American armed forces continue its removal of vehicles, fixed artillery pieces and more mundane equipment like computers.  Anything deemed non-essential or non-lethal can be sold to Afghanis or dismantled and sold for scrap metal.

President Joe Biden vowed the US troops would be out of Afghanistan by September 11th, the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that took nearly 3,000 lives. 

Equipment is being loaded into 20-foot trailers that will be airlifted out of the country using C-17 cargo planes or driven out in convoys.  Other equipment, like some helicopters, weapons and ammunition that will not be removed will be handed over to Afghanistan’s national security forces.  More than 1,300 pieces of equipment have already been destroyed, dismantled and sold for scrap.

The withdrawal from Afghanistan is being undertaken in a planned and measured process, unlike when US forces were suddenly withdrawn from Syria during the Trump administration, leaving entire bases intact for advancing Russian mercenary forces.  That withdrawal was done so haphazardly, video of Russians drinking chilled sodas from vending machines on US bases circulated online.  The US military had to conduct airstrikes on its bases it had occupied hours before to destroy caches of munitions and equipment.