Common Taliban Weaponry

[Haligonian]

I'm trying to familarize myself with the common weaponry used by the Taliban, so that I can study their characteristics, etc.

Thus far I  know of:
AK 47
RPK
PKM
RPG-7
Recoiless Rifles 73mm, 75mm, 82mm, 107mm
Mortars of various calibers

Anything I'm missing?  Is anyone able to be specific about the makes of these weapons they use? Anyone have any stories about how they employ these weapons that might be different than expected?  Thanks for any help!

 

[GAP]

IED's

 

[George Wallace]

I think you may have had a common misconception when you listed the AK-47.  There are also AK-74s.  More importantly, there are a wide variety of both, produced in a wide variety of nations, with a wide variety of different model numbers. 

This question is going to get rather vague and varying answers, as it is similar to asking what kind of weapons would one find a Street Gang using.

 

[helpup]

And the answer would be what ever they happen to be shooting at you with.

Not to mention that they are constantly evolving thier Wpns mainly due to availability.  Originally it was old Russian stock. and although most of the wpns are based on a Russian template they are more then willing to use what ever they are getting from various means. 

Too many to mention types of things that go boom for mines and IED's

 

[Colin Parkinson]

So are the majority of small arms being seized old stock or our new firearms being found, Chinese, locally made in Pakistan?

 

[The Bread Guy]

So are the majority of small arms being seized old stock or our new firearms being found, Chinese, locally made in Pakistan?

I can't vouch for numbers/proportions, but the US Director of National Intelligence says (in a written response to a question by the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February this year) some are coming from Iran:

Iran is covertly supplying arms to Afghan insurgents while publicly posing as supportive of the Afghan government.  Shipments typically include small arms, mines, rocket propelled grenades (RPGs), rockets, mortars, and plastic explosives.  Taliban commanders have publicly credited Iranian support for their successful operations against Coalition forces.

(Full Q&A with all sorts of other goodies, not just about Afghanistan, available via the Federation of American Scientists Secrecy News blog here.)

 

[brihard]

Toyotas of various makes and models

 

[X-mo-1979]

Things I was shot at with:

Rockets 107mm
RPG's
Recoiless 84mm
AK-47
Mortars large and small.
Hunting rifles.

 

[Gunner98]

I would suggest it is not just types but quantities that make a difference.

Source: Rome, Italy's Inter Press Service News Agency - http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38323

AFGHANISTAN: Soviet-Era Weapons Handy for Taliban
By Tahir Qadiry
Excerpts:

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Jun 26 (IPS) - While United States officials accuse Iran of arming a resurgent Taliban, officials here say the weapons are actually part of vast caches left behind by the Soviet army that fought a nine-year war in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1988.

Ustad Basir Arifi, secretary for the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme in northern Afghanistan, told IPS that weapons abandoned by the Soviet Union there are now being moved by professional smugglers to the southern provinces where the Taliban Islamist movement has its stronghold.

"Huge caches of weapons remained with the people from the Soviet Union period. These are now being smuggled to the south of Afghanistan. These weapons are bought in the north of Afghanistan and smuggled to the south to be used against government and foreign forces," Arifi said.

Zai did not rule out the possibility of weapons originating from outside Afghanistan. "Smugglers could be bringing weapons from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to the north. A good transit point could be Badakhshan province," he said without mentioning Iran.

Gen. Abdul Manan, representative of the defence ministry in the DIAG programme, said the government has been able to collect 70,000 heavy and light weapons from the whole country under the DDR and DIAG programmes. But he believes that at least a million more pieces were in the hands of armed groups in the north.

 

[PuckChaser]

Toyotas of various makes and models

Only if they're white Corollas or Sarachas and have been used as a taxi...  >

 

[Gunner98]

Aussie and US Troops also report encounters with truck mounted or towed 14.5 and 23 mm anti-aircraft guns.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Aussie and US Troops also report encounters with truck mounted or towed 14.5 and 23 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Good point - here's some media reports of 14.5 destroyed in April (.pdf).

 

[X-mo-1979]

Aussie and US Troops also report encounters with truck mounted or towed 14.5 and 23 mm anti-aircraft guns.

However it's a fixed weapon that they will not likely engage us with.It's mostly used to show off and bolster support in village bazaars.They engage troops with that they are dead or they have to abandoned it.

The only thing they will engage us with is something they can run away with,or move tactically to flank/attack our dismounts with.

Air support is never far away.

 

[Franko]

I'm trying to familarize myself with the common weaponry used by the Taliban, so that I can study their characteristics, etc.

Thus far I  know of:
AK 47
RPK
PKM
RPG-7
Recoiless Rifles 73mm, 75mm, 82mm, 107mm
Mortars of various calibers

Anything I'm missing?  Is anyone able to be specific about the makes of these weapons they use? Anyone have any stories about how they employ these weapons that might be different than expected?  Thanks for any help!

Go to your unit Int cell and ask.

Better yet, seeing as you're a Lt in 2 RCR, put in a request for them to get an indepth Int package put together on the TB and have your Platoon/ Coy get the information as well.

I'm sure they are more than willing to feed you and your troops the information.

Why haven't you asked your Plt WO/ Sgts? I'm sure that they can give you that information as well.

Regards

 

[1feral1]

Aussie and US Troops also report encounters with truck mounted or towed 14.5 and 23 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Baghdad, Jan 2007.

My Unit met up with Mr 14.5mm which was on a roof top of a house just off of Rte Irish (on the right as you head to BIAP), giving us a 'lazer beam' of green tracer about 1 metre over our heads - they missed! We cut loose in return and kept on going. One fu**ing mad minute that was.

Our enemies will use anything they can get, and we had confiscated a number of Iranian G3's, AKs from many countries (Chi-Coms, Romanian, Hungarian, Russian to name some), hell we even had British SMLE's and a US Savage or Stevens No.4 Mk1*.303 rifle which the heathans had used.

I am sure the TB are even more desperate that the AIF was/is. So I would expect anything ever made to be found at one time or another.

OWDU

 

[zipperhead_cop]

Air support is never far away.

As long as you are still in KAF when you get attacked 

I imagine the US guys I know who got attacked with a ZPU twin last October would be disappointed to find out that it was supposed to be abandoned after they got opened up on. 

 

[X-mo-1979]

As long as you are still in KAF when you get attacked 

I imagine the US guys I know who got attacked with a ZPU twin last October would be disappointed to find out that it was supposed to be abandoned after they got opened up on.

I wouldnt know.I wasnt in KAF.I did stay there for a short time while injured.Nor was I in your friends patrol.
I said from my experience.No one opened up on us with those types of weapons,the whole tour (not my friends..my unit).Although they were in the area.Fact is if they opened up on us with that weapon it would have been taken out by quickly.And from what Isaw the Taliban were not so gung-ho about dying as I had thought they would be.

I've bitten my tongue on quite a few issues you seem to know everything about due to OPSEC.I'll continue with this.

edit:To note a word "Likely" was used in my previous post as well.

I'll leave your snide comments on the ignore from now on.

 

[zipperhead_cop]

I'll leave your snide comments on the ignore from now on.

Sounds like a plan.  Perhaps I'll try that too.

 

[Franko]

As long as you are still in KAF when you get attacked 

I imagine the US guys I know who got attacked with a ZPU twin last October would be disappointed to find out that it was supposed to be abandoned after they got opened up on.

They should have either had it BiP'd, hit with arty or taken it before getting shot at, not left it behind because someone said it was "abandoned" or "unusable".

Dumb if you ask me...and it nearly got them killed.

Regards

 

[Fusaki]

I'm trying to familarize myself with the common weaponry used by the Taliban, so that I can study their characteristics, etc.

Thus far I  know of:
AK 47
RPK
PKM
RPG-7
Recoiless Rifles 73mm, 75mm, 82mm, 107mm
Mortars of various calibers

Anything I'm missing?  Is anyone able to be specific about the makes of these weapons they use? Anyone have any stories about how they employ these weapons that might be different than expected?  Thanks for any help!

I'm not sure you're asking the right questions.  Do the specific characteristics of these weapons systems really matter?  It makes more sense to me to be more concerned with weapons classes.

For the practical development of TTPs, small arms fire is small arms fire - regardless of if it is an AK-47 or and AK-74.  Your reaction to indirect fire is the same regardless of how big the mortar bombs are.  Like others have stated, your average Taliban footsoldier is carrying whatever he can get his hands on - and you'll probably never know exactly what exactly that weapon is anyways.  When it comes down to tan boots under the sun, you'll only know "small arms and RPGs" or "IED" or maybe "Recoiless Rifle".

Maybe it's different for Officers, but as a Jr NCO I'd be more concerned with learning what the Taliban are doing these days for TTPs.  Where are they laying the IEDs?  How are they utilizing canalizing terrain?  What should I be looking for as I'm walking down the road?  What did the guys on the tour before me find effective or ineffective?

Not telling you how to do your job (it's different from mine).  I'm just throwing my .02 out there for comments.