fghan Air Force pilots have run out of laser-guided weaponry due to the sudden loss of support from the United States and NATO after President Joe Biden decided to exit Afghanistan, according to a senior Afghan lawmaker.

“They're completely out of stock for the laser munitions,” Afghan member of parliament Haji Ajmal Rahmani told the State Department Correspondents' Association in a virtual briefing from Kabul. “It's not low — it's actually out of stock.”

The logistical difficulty arose as Taliban forces surged across the country in the wake of departing NATO forces, an offensive Afghanistan’s modest air force has tried to blunt as the number of U.S. strikes has dwindled. Rahmani and his colleagues are appealing Congress for additional support, warning Biden’s “hasty withdrawal” emboldened the Taliban and undermined the embattled Afghan military’s ability to repel the militants.

“It was a hasty withdrawal,” Rahmani said, explaining Afghan forces were left with the munitions at a time when NATO forces were expected to continue carrying out most of the airstrikes in the country. "When they have made a request [for more munitions], the feedback was, it will take some more time because they have to make the orders and it will take time to produce and ship to Afghanistan, and they are talking up around one year, more or less, till it will reach Afghanistan.”

BIDEN AFGHANISTAN ASSESSMENT RINGS HOLLOW TO ALLIES AMID TALIBAN SURGE

That shortage deprives the Afghan military of an arsenal that had a “crippling psychological effect” on the Taliban, according to the Pentagon.

“The bombs are built by Afghan ammunitions specialists and loaded onto Afghan planes by Afghan maintainers,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Justin Williams in 2018. “This is one example of how the Afghan Air Force is assuming ownership across the board.”

Three years later, Afghan pilots are reduced to using less sophisticated bombs to stem a rising tide of Taliban forces.

“[The planes] have different munitions, and [they are] trying to somehow manage the situation with the different munitions, but this one is much more [effective],” Rahmani said. “It definitely is somehow impacting the missions and operations, but ... they are having different munitions and trying to manage the situation with that, but it's critical, and it's very important and very important for making sure we don't have civilian casualties.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/afghan-ai...223900119.html