US plans to leave $ 6bn military gear after 2014 Afghanistan drawdown: Report

WASHINGTON: The United States is planning to leave about $6 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan after 2014 drawdown from the landlocked country.  

According to the Foreign Policy magazine, the United States is in the middle of planning a major "retrograde" that will account for the bulk of the vehicles, gear, and other materiel after more than 11 years of war.

The report comes as regional countries including Central Asian states show a keen interest in getting US military equipment. Washington is in the process of shipping out its equipment using Pakistan and Northern Distribution Network through Central Asian state as major transportation routes.

The US Army has approximately 1.38 million pieces of equipment in Afghanistan valued at roughly $28 billion, a Situation Room report on Foreign Policy website said. The US Army plans to bring home about 757,000 pieces, or about $21 billion worth of materiel of that total equipment, and "divest itself" of about 628,000 pieces of equipment valued at about $6 billion, according to Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon cited in the report.

"We will bring back those items that will support the Army's approved force," Hall said. "We will also bring home items with security trade restrictions."

According to the report, the Army will leave behind in Afghanistan equipment that is obsolete, does not meet criteria to return home, or is not "cost effective to return."

Meanwhile, according to an ISAF spokesman, the Army has about 28,000 vehicles and trailers that must be shipped out of the country, and there are another 90,000 shipping containers of equipment the Army expects to be recovered, identified, and repacked for shipment.

"In cases where the material is excess to the needs of the Army or transport costs exceed fair market value, the materiel will be donated or disposed of."