A tank in Afghanistan. Peretz Partensky It is a January sale with a difference. The American military is auctioning off millions of pounds of tankers, accommodation blocks, tents, generators and other “white goods” in Afghanistan ahead of next year’s deadline for the end of combat operations.

In a tender document published on Friday, buyers are invited to offer a percentage of the equipment’s original value by January 10 when sealed bids will be opened.

There is just one snag. According to the brochure, “all property listed therein is offered for sale ‘as is’ and ‘where is’,” which means successful bidders will have to collect their lots from some of the most dangerous terrain in the world, the forward operating bases used by US troops as they battled the Taliban.

The equipment includes everything necessary to keep a military camp running. That means water and sewage systems, laundry and kitchen facilities – from giant cooking ranges to water purification systems - as well as fortifications and barriers.

Once a deal is done, the new owners will have just 96 hours to collect the kit from wherever it might be, whether Bagram air base outside Kabul or one of the dozens of remote forward operating base close to Taliban territory.

Possible buyers include the private contractors who are picking up business as foreign forces leave, providing security, logistics support and training to charities, embassies and the Afghan government. Or the bases could be dissembled and their component parts sold off for civilian uses.

Buyers will need deep pockets to bid for lots that originally cost up to £15m (although all major credit cards are accepted).

The sales even include “non-tactical vehicles”. Unfortunately for Taliban commanders with an eye on a bargain, the documents make clear that term excludes “launchers and tanks”.

Weapons and other reusable kit are being shipped back home in a huge operation that logisticians call a “retrograde”. It includes bringing back as many as 40,000 shipping containers of equipment, worth an estimated £20billion.

At a recent press briefing, Chuck Hagel, US defence secretary, said the drawdown was ahead of schedule despite the closure of the main route out via Pakistan’s north-west.

“We got a long way to go, a lot of troops to move out yet, a lot of equipment to move out yet,” he said. “But this is an issue that is as high on the priority list as any that we all have.”

At least 400 bases have already been closed or handed to local troops as foreign forces leave. Earlier this year, Afghan troops took over responsibility for security across the whole country

Some 45,000 American troops are still in Afghanistan – along with more than 25,000 from other coalition countries - 12 years after the Taliban was ousted from power.

They are due to end combat operations next year. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has so far resisted signing a deal with Washington that would allow several thousand personnel to remain in the country, largely to train and advise local troops.

That means billions of dollars of equipment must leave the country, either passing through Pakistan to the port of Karachi or a more expensive route to the north through Europe by land and air.

Shipments out to the south have been halted by anti-drone demonstrators, led by Imran Khan, the former cricketer.

Pakistani officials say as many as 1500 trucks have been halted travelling in the opposite direction, waiting to deliver supplies to Nato-led forces serving in Afghanistan.