Article on Taliban Weapons...

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EmGeeGeorge

EmGeeGeorge

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http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/whats-inside-a-taliban-gun-locker/

"September 15, 2010, 12:44 pm What’s Inside a Taliban Gun Locker?
By C.J. CHIVERS

C.J. Chivers

Taliban equipment confiscated from caches or collected after firefights. Since last year, The New York Times and At War have taken several different looks at insurgent arms and munitions in Afghanistan, which can yield information about how insurgents equip themselves and fight, and how the Taliban has been able to maintain itself as a viable force for more than 15 years. ... <Copyrighted material removed>
 
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Just what you would expect -- British and Russian weapons, and not the latest models, by any means.

I note they did not give dates of manufacture on ammo.
 
Are we to assume that the guns taken into the field by the Taliban are the same as those left in the bin? We're just guessing that what's being used in the field is much like what's being found in the weapons stashes. It's probably fair to figure that what's shown here reflects to a large extent what many Talibans carry.

Obviously, the Taliban is aware of the value of sniping in the field(is it warfare if war is not declared? PC RULING, please...) as well as the stubborn durability of certain designs. I guess my point is that they're obviously going to take all the best rifles,scopes and other gear with them when they go, and what we're finding is what's left behind.

I would be very interested to know what the Taliban fighters actually took with them when they left these picked over remnants behind in the locker.
 
It wasn't clear if those weapons were found there or collected by our trooops and put in there. I'm sure they know what the Taliban uses because they will find weapons with dead fighters. Obviously AKs are the most common rifle over there, but there are many others it seems.

The people in that part of the world used to make and use very long barreled weapons, very much like a kentucky rifle. The concept of sniper isn't lost on them.
 
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I'm sure the NYT in collaboration with the ATF and DHS will eventually claim that the Taliban are arming themselves through straw purchases in Texas and Arizona.
 
the report indicates these rifles may be more specific to Marja in the helmand province. you would think Iran would have established better small arms supplys in that region.
also, the articles and videos may even suggest the role of the rifle in Afpac. given the condition and organization of the insurgents rifles look to be secondary in both use and training i.e, little to none. anything more advanced than an enfield is beyond the average taliban's ability. AKs are probably more a status symbol for them and easier to intimidate the indigenous population than an effective battle tool.
i would like to see some of the communication equipment and explosives technology they are using as well.
thanks for posting mathew.
 
yeah, having a weapon is a status symbol for the men. They throw a fit when we take them away. It's part of the culture. Just because a man walks around with ak-47 slung over his shoulder doesn't make him a terrorist/taliban/ al queda, either.

And just because the press says this or that doesn't make it fact.
 
they can, it takes alot of paperwork
and do you really want a 'Khyber Pass Special'
all you have to do is find old film (celluloid aka low puff nitro-cellulose) to roll your own
 
another very interesting read. thanks mathew.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010...-in-arming-the-afghans-and-its-repercussions/

seems the Afpac police don't like the AMD-65s Uncle Sam bought them. my guess is because they can't rip through more than 60 rounds or so like the big boys can without burning themselves. awe... that's gotta suck for them.
personally i see no need to switch that region over to NATO equipment whatever. a miss with an M-16 has the same result as a miss with an AK whatever.
 
Curiously not mentioned is indigenous manufacture. Reports from folks I trust to know which end of the gun the bang comes from, note there's long been a healthly cottage industry in Afghanistan and Pakistan making clones of all nations' military arms as well as reloading spent brass. Something Mr. Chivers would know if he wasn't so arrogantly assuming folk in that part of the world were too primitive to exist without the 'white man's help'..... >MW
 
Millwright said:
Something Mr. Chivers would know if he wasn't so arrogantly assuming folk in that part of the world were too primitive to exist without the 'white man's help'..... >MW
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I think your assuming how the author felt, of which I read no indication of in the article and evidence of the opposite. /derail
 
all you have to do is find old film (celluloid aka low puff nitro-cellulose) to roll your own
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I've heard about them doing this, but I'd say they haven't done it in some time. Film manufacturers switched first to safety film and then to polyester film beginning nearly 60 years ago. What archived nitrate base film that is still around is carefully stored to prevent auto-ignition. I doubt the locals have access to significantly large enough quantities to use it in ammo manufacture. That was something they did when nitrate film could just be scavenged from theaters, photography studios and the like.
 
therewolf said:
(is it warfare if war is not declared? PC RULING, please...)
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I don't know who PC is, but warfare is "open, armed conflict." I think it exists regardless of whether or not it's been declared.
 
I realize that this is a very subjective/sensitive subject.

That being said, we have always maintained that there never again be a Vietnam type outcome in any military conflict of which America is engaged (unanimous conviction even on a bi-partisan level which given the current political environment is amazing). IMOP and in order to avoid such, we must do anything necessary to destroy the enemy.

Either that, or we bug-out if a SINCERE commitment does not exist...

Just my two cents (hats off to all of our heroic troops but pee-pee on Washington).

-Happy Holidays
 
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Mosin Nagants, Lee Enfields and AK's. Not very surprising cnsidering the ready availability of all of these.
 
I'm currently at the end of my deployment in Afghanistan now. My unit did some work on the east side of Marjeh and in the upper sangin valley.

We found one weapons cache which included 2 AK-47's (Original russian milled receiver. Looked legit to me, but I have heard of Pakistani copies of these), a single shot 12 gauge (pretty common for poor farmers), a Lee Enfield No.4 MK.1 (made in the USA by Savage and is being brought back as a Battalion war trophy), and a Star model F .22cal pistol.

This was found in the Marjeh area where weapons are not as easy to come by.

PK/PKM MG's were used on us quite a bit, as was a 107mm recoil-less rifle up North in Sangin. There was also talk of a couple M40A5 sniper rifles taken from dead Marines floating around there. I believe an Afghan Army squad defected to the Taliban and took with them some M16A2's and PKM machineguns.

As the article stated, the fighting weapons are all functional despite their worn appearance and they're usually buried when not in use. They also reload their own ammo if they can't find a source for more using hammers to seat the bullet in the case.
 
I don't know who PC is, but warfare is "open, armed conflict." I think it exists regardless of whether or not it's been declared.
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It's war when you can see your own broken bones sticking out of your hide, and see your friends zipped into body bags.
 
i don't know how they are getting all these weapons, why don't we just make them go through the nics checks like we have to? that way we could keep the guns out of taliban hands.
 
I remember seeing weapons caches in Iraq a few years back. They had a smattering of everything as well but the one that caught my eye was an original sturmgehwer (I know I blew the spelling).
 
jeep guy
FAIL

anywho, look up Khyber Pass
booming industry
making guns
mostly knockoffs
but then who else is making Enfeilds and martini's

I still wish we could have kept the wrapped and packed FN FAL we dug up, happy switch and all.
 
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