Voice of America News reports: “The Taliban have warned that the military weapons left behind by the United States in Afghanistan now belong to them as ‘spoils of war’ and will be utilized to defend against any attempts to reclaim them.

The statement marks the first official response from the internationally unrecognized government in Kabul to President Donald Trump’s pledge on the eve of his Jan. 20 inauguration to retrieve U.S. arms from the de facto Islamist Afghan leaders.

‘The weapons that America abandoned in Afghanistan, as well as those provided to the former Afghan regime, are now in the possession of the Mujahideen [or Taliban forces] as spoils of war,’ claimed Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, while participating in an X space session late on Monday.

‘The Afghan people now own these weapons and are utilizing them to defend their independence, sovereignty, and Islamic system. No external force can compel us to surrender these weapons, nor will we accept any demands for their surrender,’ Mujahid stated. ‘We will use these weapons to repel invaders who dare to seize them.’…”