United States President-elect Donald Trump said on the eve of his inauguration on Sunday that he would get back military equipment left behind by the US army in Afghanistan.

Speaking at a victory parade in the Capital Arena in Washington DC on Sunday, Trump outlined his aims for the presidential term including finding liquid gold beneath the surface of the US and improving the economy.

Among the aims he listed was ‘strengthening and rebuilding’ the US military as ‘he had done before’. He then claimed that the previous administration had left behind ‘billions of Dollars’ worth of weapons in Afghanistan as it left the country.

“And then they gave billions and billions of dollars of it to, you remember, the Taliban. They gave it Taliban. They gave a big chunk of our military equipment, a big chunk of it to the enemy,” Trump said.

He then went on to say that he would get back the military equipment in exchange for the aid being provided to Afghanistan.

“Do you know we give billions of dollars a year to Afghanistan? And I say if we’re gonna give billions of dollars a year, tell them we’re not giving them the money unless they give back our military equipment that these poor stupid people allowed for them to have,” Trump said.

“So, we’ll give them a couple of bucks, we need the military equipment back,” he said to loud cheers in the Arena.

Trump’s statement contrasts with the previous positions taken by the US administration on the issue, which has consistently denied that any weapons were left behind by the US military in Afghanistan.

In September 2023, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication denied the claims of weapons being left behind in Afghanistan during a press briefing.

However, Kirby had added that equipment had been transferred to the Afghan Army well in advance of the US departure from Afghanistan as per their original plan.

“The equipment that people are saying the Americans left behind, that was equipment that was transferred well in advance of our departure to the Afghan National Security Forces. … because that was part of the mission that our troops were involved in Afghanistan to do in the first place, which was to train up and to support Afghan national security forces as they took charge of security in their country.”

Kirby had been confronted with the question after Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar said that weapons left behind by US forces were turning into a challenge for Pakistan.