A Republican congressman has warned that the Taliban now has access to $85 billion worth of US weapons. Jim Banks, a former US Navy reservist, made the revelation during an August 27 speech in Washington where he said that the group now has access to 75,000 vehicles, 200 airplanes, and helicopters, and 600,000 smaller weapons amid the US evacuation of the country, per <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2021/08/26/taliban-now-has-access-85-billion-american-military-equipment/">The Telegraph</a>. "The Taliban now has more Black Hawk helicopters than 85 percent of the countries in the world," he said. Banks added that the group also has access to night-vision goggles, body armor, and medical supplies. Watch Banks' speech below:  [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_SJbLeJZ-E]] The Republican said that he knows how many weapons have been left behind in Afghanistan because he worked as a foreign military sales officer - a job that involved purchasing weapons on behalf of the US and giving them to Afghan forces. Banks went on: "Unfathomable to me and so many others, the Taliban now has biometric devices which have the fingerprints, eye scans, and biographical information of all the Afghans who helped us and were on our side in the last 20 years. "There is no plan by this administration to get those weapons back. There is no plan to account for any of this equipment or these weapons." "If any of these weapons or this military equipment is used to harm, injure, or kill an American now or at any time in the future, the blood is on Joe Biden's hands," he added. <img class=" wp-image-1263124364" src="https://img.vt.co/2021/08/2GFB52W-1024x819.jpg" alt="" width="579" height="463" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: SOPA Images Limited / Alamy]] It comes as <a href="https://vt.co/news/world/joe-biden-says-he-bears-responsibility-for-whats-happened-in-afghanistan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">President Joe Biden said he "bears responsibility" for recent events in Afghanistan</a> in the wake of the tragic terrorist attack that took place outside Kabul airport yesterday. On Thursday, August 26, <a href="https://vt.co/news/world/explosions-at-kabul-airport-as-thousands-of-afghans-await-evacuation-flights">two explosions and gunfire led to carnage outside the gates of the airport as thousands of Afghans attempted</a> to escape rule by the Taliban after the extremist group seized control earlier this month. Of the 90 people who were killed in the explosions at Hamid Karzai International Airport, 13 were US soldiers. Addressing the attack, which ISIS-K claimed responsibility for, President Joe Biden said at a news conference on Thursday, per <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/afghanistan-news-taliban-refugees-08-26-21-intl/h_711aa44cf5d26622cbf55cd41f576a5c">CNN</a>: "I bear responsibility for fundamentally all that's happened of late." [[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=572501717096580]] Biden has faced criticism for what many have deemed a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan in order to meet his self-imposed August 31 deadline. Explaining himself, he added: "But here's the deal, you know ... that the former president made a deal with the Taliban to get all American forces out of Afghanistan by May 1." The 78-year-old president continued: "Imagine where we'd be if I had indicated on May 1, I was not going to renegotiate an evacuation date. We were going to stay there. I had only one alternative, for thousands of more troops back into Afghanistan to fight a war. "I have never been of the view that we should be sacrificing American lives to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan, a country that has never once in its entire history been a united country." <h6>Featured image credit: Alamy / UPI</h6>

Taliban has access to $85 billion US weapons, Republican congressman warns

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