An American M4A1 carbine rifle, manufactured in Connecticut and sent to Afghanistan in 2018, popped up in March 2025 during a deadly train hijacking in Pakistan — laying bare one of the deadliest fallouts of the US military’s chaotic 2021 pullout from Afghanistan.
The rifle, serial number W1004340, was one of hundreds of thousands handed over to Afghan forces, much of which has since slipped into Pakistan through a porous border, arming insurgents, terrorists, and all kinds of enemies of the state and destabilising the region, The Washington Post reported.
Loads of US-origin weapons have been seized from militants in Pakistan and confirmed by the Pentagon as former US property.
According to a list, M16s, M4s, and advanced PVS14 night-vision devices were confiscated after the operation against the militants.
“They have the latest American-made weapons,” Ahmad Hussain, a special forces officer injured in a nighttime ambush told Post. “They could see us, but we couldn’t see them.”
Officials blame the proliferation of such weapons for the resurgence of groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatists. After the March 11 train attack that killed more than 25 people, authorities traced serial numbers on captured rifles to US supplies originally meant for Afghan forces. “The presence of US advance weapons… has been an issue of profound concern,” Ministry of Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A 2023 SIGAR report estimated that over $7 billion in US military gear was left behind. The Pentagon, while acknowledging risks of capture, said the equipment became Afghan property once transferred and claimed only a “minuscule portion” had ended up with militants.
Markets like Darra Adamkhel boomed post-withdrawal. “The market was flooded with American weapons,” recalled veteran trader Raz Muhammad, while responding to the Post.
TTP commander Qari Shuaib Bajauri confirmed that the group capitalised on plummeting prices to arm itself with cutting-edge gear — from thermal optics to drone-guided bombs, according to the US news website.
Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban-led Afghan government have since soured, especially after deadly cross-border skirmishes. While the Taliban insists the weapons are “well guarded,” Pakistani officials, frustrated by the Biden administration’s inaction, are now looking to Donald Trump for renewed pressure. “We believe the US should do something about it,” a Foreign Ministry official said talking to the Post.
For those on the frontlines like Hussain, the fallout is deeply personal. Shot by insurgents using US equipment, he holds both militants and America responsible: “Both are responsible,” he told The Post.
