Taliban Soldiers in American-Like Gear Recreate WWII Iwo Jima Flag Shot

The Taliban is rubbing America's nose in the mess left behind in Afghanistan -- and they're doing so with a massive troll move ... recreating an iconic war photo, for their own purposes.

A Taliban military unit that calls themselves the Badri 313 Battalion put out a ton of propaganda footage this week -- showing a bunch of these guys rocking what appears to be American uniforms and gear left behind in the chaos from the past few weeks.

They're out there patrolling the streets in fatigues that are eerily similar to what U.S. soldiers have worn in the area ... only now, the Taliban seems to have gotten ahold of it. The B313B boys also have rifles in hand, and they're also using jeeps that seem to be American too.

That's not the worst of it though -- in what appears to be a total F-U to the USA, the battalion also posted a photo of them raising a Taliban flag ... in the same style as the shot of American troops raising the U.S. flag atop Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima during WWII.

There doesn't seem to be a caption attached, but the message couldn't be more clear ... they see this as them claiming victory in the region, which is exactly what this pic has gone on to represent in our history. It's a slap in the face, really ... an audacious one at that.

BTW, what you're seeing here as far as artillery and weaponry and whatnot being used by the Taliban is just a taste of what's said to be part of a total estimate of about $28 billion worth of gear we'd sent to Afghan army forces dating back to the early 2000s.