History professor Robert Crews has expressed alarm that captured US weaponry could be used by the Taliban to rule Afghanistan with an "iron fist." The Afghanistan expert warned that the large amount of US military equipment left following the withdrawal, including helicopters, could be used in future attacks on the vulnerable Hazara minority. Mr Crews said the abandoned weapons have provided the Taliban with the capacity to rule Afghanistan"more completely" and "in a more brutal way."

       Professor Crews told Sky News: "What really alarms be and what alarms a lot of Afghans now is the potential that you have a Black Hawk helicopter being brought to bear on a village, potentially say of Hazaras.

       "A community the targetted in the 1990s.

       "In acts of violence that the Hazaras regard as genocide.

       "So that balance, their capacity to rule Afghanistan more completely in a more brutal way actually is a major concern.

       "With the AK-47 the Taliban managed to defeat the world's most powerful military alliance in the United States and NATO.

       "And they did that mostly with small arms," explained the Afghanistan expert.

       He added: "They will use those weapons, not in a way that suggests they are reformed.

       "But really in fact they go back to what is their instincts.

       "Which are to rule with an iron fist."

       Earlier this week the former head of the national counter-terrorism security office warned that the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan could inspire terrorists in the UK to mount attacks.

       Mr Chris Phillips warned that groups such as Al-Queda and ISIS in Afghanistan did not need to "export" attackers to the UK.

       He argued on TalkRADIO there are already thousands of people in the UK who see the rise of the Taliban as a "victory" and could be motivated to commit terrorist atrocities.

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       Mr Phillips told TalkRADIO: "ISIS and Al-Queda have always seen this as a very long game.

       "That they want their caliphate across the West and across the world over a long period of time, they didn't see it in a generation even but in many generations.

       He added: "They see this as a victory across the world.

       "And of course what that does is it emboldens all those people we have already got in the UK."