" I'm more concerned about the stuff we gave to the ANA and National Police, which is no doubt still 100% operational, and most likely includes instructional material in the native language. " and that is it in a nutshell. The U.S. forces did not 'give' anything to the Taliban. The radio/communication equipment count (165,000) has no relation to the equipment amount actually provided to the Afghan and National Police Forces. If anyone "gave" radio equipment to the Talibs (correct name) it were the Afghan armed forces who elected not to fight for their country.I saw a video recently of a soldier using an axe to render several pieces of radio gear "inoperable".
I saw this video on the internet, so I cannot/will not vouch for its authenticity.
But presuming that we knew that the equipment was to be left behind, certainly it would meet the fate (or a similar one) shown in said video.
Now, could the Taliban collect enough pieces/parts to get a working radio or two, or three? Maybe. But that assumes that the technical knowledge exists to do that. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.
Personally, I'm more concerned about the stuff we gave to the ANA and National Police, which is no doubt still 100% operational, and most likely includes instructional material in the native language.
I strongly suspect the 165,000 number was dreamt up by an agent provocateur bent upon grinding his/her political axe through disinformation.
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