Taliban brags about captured US-made helicopters at Kandahar airport
- A day after capturing its spiritual birthplace, the group released a video showing a militant walking around a US-made Black Hawk chopper
- But the insurgents are not known to possess the pilots or technical personnel needed to fly them
The insurgents have been quick to show off their war spoils in the southern city – their spiritual birthplace and now one of the biggest prizes in a countrywide blitz that has left the capital Kabul surrounded by Taliban fighters.
The fall of Kandahar – Afghanistan’s second-biggest city – on Friday meant the insurgents once again had full control of their ethnic Pashtun heartland.
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Taliban seizes control of second-largest city Kandahar in key moment in Afghanistan conflict
In footage posted on Taliban social media accounts on Saturday, an insurgent is seen walking around a US-made Black Hawk military helicopter, which is in brown-green camouflage with Afghan Air Force markings, purportedly at a Kandahar airport hangar.
He then walks out and another Black Hawk is seen in the distance on the tarmac.
As he walks to the side of the hangar, two Russian military helicopters are seen as another person is heard saying “Mashallah” – an Islamic term of praise.
It was not clear if any of the helicopters were airworthy.
The Black Hawk inside the hangar was seemingly in storage, with a black sheet covering its windscreen and its left engine apparently missing.