Weapons
“An Afghan man will kiss his rifle before he kisses his wife.” An old Afghan saying
Many Taliban members carried their weapons to Pakistan, but they left larger individual and crew-served weapons behind. What worried Coalition Forces most was the number of weapons caches and the Afghan reluctance to surrender them. The Taliban used donkeys to transport shells made in countless small Pakistani villages along the tribal belt by the Afghan border. Skilled horsemen, many Taliban regularly used their mounts across various terrains, and in some cases, horses outperformed four-wheel-drive vehicles.
It was common for Afghans to own several weapons, which is part of their culture. However, this did not explain the numerous hidden weapon stockpiles in barns, basements, and attics. Instead, many villagers obstructed the Coalition’s efforts to locate these caches. The policy was to leave one AK-47 per family, but many Afghan men, like many American men, had a strong interest in firearms. More difficult to justify was the private ownership of rocket-propelled grenades and homemade bomb components for protection.
Early in the counterinsurgency, U.S. military personnel realized that disarming Afghanistan of large-caliber, crew-served weapons and stopping the production of explosives would be difficult. Some weapons still remained from the Soviet era. Gradually, U.S. soldiers had to go door-to-door in Taliban-sympathetic areas like Kandahar to find weapons and components. Sometimes homes were destroyed to eliminate booby traps, using armored bulldozers, explosives, and air strikes. Many Afghans were less cooperative than expected, with some becoming hostile, and many Coalition Forces faced increasing resistance.
Individual Weapons
Like many other insurgents, the Taliban prioritized mobility over firepower. Their standard individual weapon is the Kalashnikov, the AK-47, and its modern variants like the AK-47M or AK-74. These are the most widely produced personal firearms today. The AK-47's durability, quality, and military reputation have established it as the global assault rifle of choice. Because they are relatively simple, skilled Afghan gunsmiths can repair them using scrap metal in back-alley workshops.
Both sides in the early fighting favored the AK-47. Its ease of carry and maintenance was crucial in the humid, swampy terrain of Southeast Asia and again in Afghanistan. During the early phase of the Afghan war, many British SAS troops armed themselves with these weapons to better blend in and scavenge ammunition. Today, a typical Taliban fighter carries a knife, a pistol, and possibly a shoulder-fired RPG-7 Soviet rocket launcher. Some also have grenades. Similar to Vietnamese insurgents, Taliban fighters have a distinctive, local appearance rather than a uniform. The iconic cone-shaped “Viet Cong” headdress from Vietnam is comparable to the Afghan “lunge,” which resembles a turban and is often worn by the Taliban. They might wear a woven hat called a pakol. Usually, they wear long-sleeved chapan jackets and trousers. The soles of their sandals are often made from tires, and they carry their own blankets. Much like the AK-47, the RPG-7 is simple, rugged, and deadly. Like the Kalashnikov, the RPG-7 is legendary among guerrillas. It is an improved version of the German tank-busting “Panzerfaust," which caused severe damage to Allied armor, especially in the final year of World War II. Most Taliban fighters can carry two of these 14-pound weapons.
The RPG can pierce more than 6 inches of armor, making U.S. helicopters vulnerable. These weapons, in the view of al-Adel, proved very effective. There are many sources of weapons. Afghanistan had been flooded with weapons left by the Soviets for years. The Taliban had easy access via smuggling routes. As one smuggler said, "I have my customers in Kandahar. I make a good profit. I can buy an AK-47 for $200 in the north and sell it for $400 in the south." Profit, as much as ideological solidarity, drove the early post-war arms trade. External sources, particularly Iran and China, also supplied weapons. Defense Secretary Robert Gates repeatedly commented on Chinese and Iranian arms used against Coalition Forces. Quickly, the Coalition Forces began to fear the Taliban’s ability to innovate with explosives. They faced increasing challenges from the Taliban’s skills and ingenuity in crafting and upgrading weapons to increase their lethality. One example is an RPG packed with ball bearings capable of killing people within a 30-foot radius upon impact. As a British soldier said, "This is a worrying twist as their weaponry becomes more and more sophisticated. Who knows how many of these rockets are out there?"
