Pictures, Video Show Taliban Flying U.S. Black Hawk Over Kandahar With Body Hanging Below [Correction]

Correction: This article — based on the information The New American viewed at the time of publication — states that the man seen in the pictures and video was the victim of a public hanging from a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter under the control of the Taliban. That was an error, as can be seen in more up-close videos and pictures we have seen after this article was published. As the video below shows, the man beneath the helicopter appears to be wearing a harness and is seen waving and moving about. He is obviously very much alive.

While it is still a fact that the Biden administration left $85 billion worth of U.S. military equipment (including Black Hawk helicopters) behind to be seized by the Taliban and the helicopter shown in pictures and video in the article appears to be in Taliban hands, we apologize that the main point of this story was an error. 

— C. Mitchell Shaw

The article as originally published:

Since the Biden administration’s slapdash withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban — which had promised to behave themselves — have made use of the $85 billion in U.S. military equipment left behind. Reports from Monday show Taliban forces flying U.S. Black Hawk attack helicopters over Kandahar with “traitors” hanging by the neck beneath the U.S. aircraft.

That the Taliban broke their promise of peaceful rule is surprising to no one who has any historical understanding of the tyrannical, terrorist, militantly Islamic group. It was perfectly predictable: The past is the best indicator of the future, and the Taliban have always ruled by terror. The difference this time, though, is that the Taliban have first-world military equipment, courtesy of the Biden administration.

The Taliban are putting that equipment to good (read: bad) use, patrolling Afghanistan and keeping Afghans in check.

By using that equipment to terrorize the people of Afghanistan, the Taliban — which were kept at bay for 20 years only by the military might of the United States — are mocking the United States. But pictures and video from Kandahar shared on Twitter Monday show that this is far worse than mockery. The Taliban are using Black Hawk helicopters as platforms for public hangings of “traitors” that assisted the United States over the past 20 years of the Taliban’s exile from power.

This comes the day after Joe Biden was caught looking at his watch during the dignified transfer of the remains of the 13 fallen military members who gave their lives in the wake of the catastrophic withdrawal on August 15.

The public-hanging-by-helicopter is shocking, but not surprising. The Taliban have been nailing “night letters” to the doors of those they accuse of “working with the crusaders” against their particular brand of Islamic rule. The “night letters” order the recipients to attend a Taliban-convened court and face sentence or face the death penalty for the “crime” of assisting the West. But, given the pictures and videos of the Taliban putting a “traitor” on display by flying his dead body hanging under a Black Hawk helicopter, it would be difficult to imagine anything approaching a fair trial that ends in anything less than a death penalty. Again, the past is the best indicator of the future.

The White House has been characteristically silent on this newest development, but should release some type of spin on it in coming days.