US trashes, sells its unwanted gear in Afghanistan

[unhappycamper]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_AFGHANISTAN_US_JUNK?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

US trashes, sells its unwanted gear in Afghanistan
By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press
Nov 6, 2:27 PM EST

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- The withdrawing U.S. military is destroying most of the equipment it is leaving behind in Afghanistan after 13 years of war, selling the scrap for millions of dollars to those willing to buy it.

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The equipment is being trashed, U.S. officials say, because of fears that anything left behind in Afghanistan could fall into the hands of insurgents and used to make bombs. Leaving it behind also saves the U.S. billions of dollars in transportation costs.

~snip~

The twisted mounds of metal, steel and industrial rubber scattered over a vast field had once been armored vehicles, trucks and huge blast walls that protected troops from suicide bombers. Giant black treads were pulled from tanks. Even air conditioners, exercise machines and office equipment were crushed and stuffed into multicolored shipping containers piled on top of each other in the junkyard.

In the last year, the U.S. has turned equipment and vehicles into 387 million pounds (176 million kilograms) of scrap that it sold to Afghans for $46.5 million, according to Mimi Schirmacher, a spokeswoman for the military's Defense Logistics Agency in Virginia.

[wercal]

1. I've been predicting this for years

And if we cant trust them with our equipment, we have mostly failed there.