ihe official said that the amount was much higher than reported because many people didn’t lodge complaints with the police fearing militant attacks and “silently” paid the extor- tion amount. He revealed that the weap- ons, which had fallen into the militants’ hands after the August 2021 withdrawal of the US and other foreign troops from Afghanistan, were enough to fight a war for 15 years. “Things worsened following the fall of Kabul, especially due to the heaps of modern weapons left behind by foreign troops. They’re enough for a 15-year- long insurgency,” he said. The official said those weap- ons, which included sniper guns, thermal weapon sights, and