U.S.-Supplied Weapons Vulnerable After Afghanistan Withdrawal

When Afghanistan fought the Soviet Union during the 1980s, the CIA sent shoulder-launched, surface-to-air Stinger missiles to the mujahedeen fighters battling the Red Army. When the Soviets left, many of the missiles went missing, and CIA operatives – including Robert Baer – were assigned to track them down.

Finding the Stingers was a top priority for the agency because of fears they could be used by militant groups like al-Qaida, which was then based in Afghanistan and in 2001 carried out terrorist attacks against the U.S. The lack of controls for those missiles haunted American officials for years.

“There was no plan,” Baer says about efforts to supply weapons to the mujahedeen. “Congress told the CIA basically to give them weapons to fight the Red Army, even though they knew it would be hard to track and control them.”

Weapons are once again at risk of falling into the wrong hands in Afghanistan, as the U.S. military prepares to leave the country after more than a decade of war. About $4 billion in used equipment will be scrapped, destroyed or sold, and there are concerns some weapons may once again wind up with militants in the region.