In view of the United States’ involvement in the war in Afghanistan, the country has invested billions in weapons and training. The Taliban eventually took control with little resistance. Now much of the invested equipment and gear has been lost to the Taliban.
Rep. Richard Hudson, a lawmaker from North Carolina, shared content with graphic analysis of the loss of the US military equipment inventory on Facebook. However, Facebook and Instagram flagged the posts from the congressman on Wednesday, stating that they contained “false information.”
Hudson shared his opinion on the decision. “Today, my post was temporarily censored detailing the billions in military equipment, in addition to Americans and allies, left behind in Afghanistan by President Biden. We can never let these facts be censored or hidden.”
According to Hudson’s graphic, first published in The Sunday Times, the Taliban have taken lots of different kinds of equipment.
“In addition to thousands of Americans and allies left behind in Afghanistan, President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal also left billions of dollars of military equipment – paid for by American taxpayers – in the hands of the brutal Taliban regime,” Hudson’s post stated. “Thanks to President Biden, the Taliban now has more Black Hawk helicopters than 85% of countries in the world. This is a disgrace.”
Hudson didn’t receive any explanation from Facebook as to why the post had been suppressed.
“While fact-checkers have disputed the exact dollar amount of equipment left in Afghanistan (estimated to be $24 billion of our total $82.9 billion investment in Afghanistan), there is no dispute of the inventory of vehicles, arms, and aircraft American taxpayers sent to Afghanistan over the last two decades,” the congressman stated following the flagging of the post.
Eventually, Facebook removed the flags from the posts, seemingly admitting its mistake but has not yet responded to a request for comment.
