I recently wrote a blog post for ARES (Armament Research Services), Silah Report is a subsidiary of ARES, about weapons captured by the Taliban during their 2021 offensive which toppled the Afghan Government. You can check out the article here.
This article will go over some of the modifications made to the weapons captured from ANSF (Afghan Security Forces) by the Taliban during their 2021 offensive. These modifications appear to have been made by the ANSF before they were captured.
Something, which is occasionally seen used in combat but I more typically appears with privately owned firearms in the Middle East, North Africa or Central Asians region, is a cut-out in the magazine. This example is a 30 round NATO STANAG pattern magazine in a 5.56×45 M16A4 self-loading rifle (which is also equipped with an M203 under-barrel grenade launcher).
This modification is likely to lead to malfunctions, as it opens up the magazine to the ingress of dirt or sand. The AR system (which the M16A4 is a derivative of) is designed to hinder as much debris entering the weapon and action as possible, because the tolerances are relatively tight and it takes a relatively small amount of sand or dirt to cause a malfunction.
Fig.1.1. M16A4 rifle with a partially cut-open magazine amongst a pile of captured M16A4s (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Another fairly common sight in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, is the so-called “Paki-Tape”. It is used to preserve the external finish of the rifles, it can be most commonly observed being wrapped around the handguard and buttstock of self-loading rifles and some RPG-7s.
The tape can also often be seen in use by civilians to wrap their bicycles for example. We also offer “Paki-Tape” sourced from Afghanistan (before the fall of the Government) in our webshop.
Fig.1.2. RPG-7 and AKM which both feature “Paki-Tape”, also notable in this picture is the PPSh-41 style SMG (above the AKM). (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Fig.1.3 An M16A4 whose buttstock was partially wrapped with “Paki-Tape”. (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Many weapons captured had paint applied to them, some rather sensible in a Multicam inspired pattern or in a desert pattern. Others were painted bright red or blue, this may indicate that the weapons painted in such colors were used for training. But the captures where the pictures originate from are of units fighting and/or surrendering to the Taliban, and not take overs of bases, which are unlikely to use training aids.
Fig.1.4 A PK pattern light machine gun and Chinese Type 69 (RPG-7 copy) painted in a multicam-inspired pattern. (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Fig.1.5 Again a PK and Chinese Type 69 (RPG-7 copy) but this time painted in a desert camouflage pattern. (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Fig.1.6 An M16A2 with an M203 attached, which is painted bright red (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Fig.1.7 A Chinese Type 69 (RPG-7 copy) which has been partly painted in a bright blue color. (Source: Taliban Propaganda)
Also documented as captured was a traditional chest rig, which are unique to Afghanistan. Similar Afghan-made chest rigs (sourced before the fall of the Government) are also available in our webshop. They are both made out of leather and are able to carry four AK sized magazines and two grenades.
Fig.1.8 A traditional Afghan chest rig captured by the Taliban from pro-Government forces. (Source: Taliban Propaganda).
Check out the ARES article associated with this look at Taliban captured weapons here.
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