This is a more interesting supply chain question.
One wonders, what their local capacity is to produce ammunition.
If they are not producing it, they are hoarding it, or being supplied it.
If they are being supplied it, who is supplying it.
China, perhaps?
North Korea?
10 to 40 year old caches, across the extended region that still go bang well enough?
In any case, this area, and its politics, and supply chain situation, are not my area of expertise.
And, now that the U.S. has withdrawn, perhaps not so much our problem at the moment.
Perhaps not our problem at all.
Still, Joe made an interesting point, and I lacked the discipline to just lurk on it, given I donât know the first fucking thing about it.
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Letâs say 200 AKs per day (to err on the side of caution)
5 days per week ('cause Unionised) thatâs 1000 per week
4000 per month
48,000 per year
Obviously if all the 2000 workshops were involved thatâs 480,000 per year
How many new AKs do you think the Talibs need per year? Especially since they now have plenty of bright, shiny M4s, one careful owner, never been fired, and only dropped once
As to where they get ammo? Same place as any other drugs cartel I guess
It would not surprise me if they have Soviet ammo supplies still
Well⌠the quality of said hand manufactured weapons is a question. Even eastern bloc manufactured AKs(the stamped receivers not the ground ones) had pretty significant failure rates.
There is also a 100% failure rate when they donât have ammo. 7.62 is pretty easy to come by, China, whatâs left of the IRA ect. 5.56 will probably be more of a challenge. Also the maintenance that an AR platform needs is the mideast⌠letâs just say it is a lot more intensive than what an AK platform needs.
Iâm not going to expect those M4s to be much more than status symbols/trophies in 6 mos.
I donât mean to be condescending but I feel like Iâm explaining the internet to my 80 year old aunt.
Russia and Iran have been supplying them arms and equipment through the covert channels for years.
China sends weapons to Iran. Iran sends the weapons to the Taliban.
Chinaâs department of defense owns the worldâs largest corporate clearing house of inexpensive military weapons. Their gross sales figures are artificially low due to money manipulation and the fact that they make up for sales with volumes of inexpensive light arms and equipment that they lack in high quality, high expensive heavy weapons inventory sales.
Pakistan is one of Chinaâs most frequent military and industrial business partners for a number of strategic and practical reasons. Significantly, Pakistan is at odds with both India and the United States government. Pakistan has been one of their key allies in establishing a significant part of the B&RI, however recently China got tired of money being squandered and stolen by corrupt Pakistani counterparts and cut off the bulk of the financial tap to pressure Pakistan into making a greater effort to help.
ChinaâPakistan relations - Wikipedia.
China and Russia both regularly utilize organized crime networks for covert action footwork.
Organized crime tactics involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
So now that weâve established that Russia, Iran and China donât give a shit about participating in international crime or dealing with rogue governments in matters of personal profit and hegemony and that all three of those governments view the United States as a geopolitical threat then Iâd like to ask you how you think revolutions are fought.
China is a more subtle actor than Russia and Iran. They prefer giving red bag cash gifts, information and engineers. Russia and Iran have such bad relations with the US, they donât give a flying shit about much of anything. China is aware that they need to keep as many degrees of separation as they can but honestly they just need to put money in the hands of one guy and introduce him to a guy greenlit by the Russian government move weapons through organized crime. They do the exact same damn thing with North Koreaâs criminal activities. As long as one hand is washed by a little plausible deniability, then they can do almost anything they want.
China NEEDS the Taliban to be an ally. They will do anything to achieve that but theyâre subtler about it than Russia. Russiaâs government thinks nothing of being hated and kind of gets off on it owing to Russiaâs cultural history of poverty, a huge inferiority complex and 70 years of state sponsored hate poured into their ears against the United States.
How many of those workshops are producing barrels? Bore, chamber and broaching plus the myriad of external work. You do realize those are gas fed? Correct?
Me thinks you havenât a clue. No offense intended.
Then there is the issue of ammo. That place is not producing the components for any part of that supply chain.
âTestifying at a Senate hearing in May 2017, US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt-Gen Vincent R Stewart said: âI have not seen real physical evidence of weapons or money being transferred.ââ
There are lots of accusations sure
I know itâs hard for us advanced, civilised members of NATO to accept that we were beaten by a bunch of child molesting, woman hating goat fuckers, but itâs true
If you want to emmoliate the humiliation by building up a narrative that the Taliban are just proxies for proper super powers like China, or Russia, go at it
Irans involvement is totally believable however
Are you saying that the Pakistani workshops are not capable of producing AKs?
I never said that. Your numbers are shit.
Troll another thread.
All of this vomit
Are you trolling or just stupid?
So how many AKs do you expect 200 gunsmith workshops to be able to produce per day?
Come up with evidence rather than opinion and I will be more inclined to believe you
Like photos of advanced Russian anti aircraft weapons in Talib hands for instance
Weâve been complaining about Chinese made weapons in Afghanistan since the very fucking beginning but sure, China doesnât supply the Taliban because I donât have pictures of Fu Manchu standing on crates marked AK47-MADE IN CHINA and cackling while taking cartoon money bags with dollar signs on them.
Show me the evidence other than a news article on the production capacity of these so called 200 gunsmith shops.
Do you understand what kind of tooling (and materials) it takes to manufacture a barrel for a select-fire, gas operated, high pressure (around 50,000 psi depending on how measures) cartridge (7.62x39 Russian) assault weapon?
I mean, for anything to be reliable and not explode under field use conditions?
Itâs not trivial.
There are so many AKs in circulation, itâs ridiculous.
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Note gunsmith with hand file holding the frame by the trigger guard in a vice with steel jaws. No copper inserts, just steel on steel. Photo op? Piss poor practice.
âThe industry has collapsed,â says Gul Zameen Afridi, a 40-year-old who deals in 12-bore shotguns. âEarlier, people would come from all over the world to buy weapons. Now, we are only allowed to manufacture licenced weapons.â
In the old days, a single gun would be passed between six to seven labourers, who would painstakingly chisel each weapon. But now, the thousand-strong workforce is melting away, taking up other professions to earn their living.
Painstakingly chiseled. Yeah. Thatâll produce some fine fast shooting accurate arms.
@doofaloofa You remind me of Wrabbit arguing about 3D printed firearms without a clue as to what it takes to finish a weapon.
edit to add -
Upon closer look the vise seems to be clamping on the frame at the grip area. No way to have any clamping strength to work without marring the metal. This photo is a bullshit photo op.
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I bet they hand-filed their chamber reamers, too, right?
The Chinese want natural resources. The Taliban want arms and ammunition. Me thinks Pakistan is a minor player.
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Back when this all kicked off in the months after 9/11 Christine Amanpour did a multi-part special on the Taliban, AQ, and their support in Pakistan. The gun manufactury here was part of that. Apparently UBL used to show up from time to time to test fire one.
If I remember correctly. The weapons(according to Amanpour and her âsubject matter expertsâ) were actually of fairly good quality. They just took days to make as they were all hand forged, tempered, reamed ect.
So think of it more like the time it took for a competent gunsmith to make a musket ect back before mass production. Quality check. Speed⌠not so much.
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Show me evidence that Russia and China, or any country for that matter, are supplying the Taliban other than some other articles
Are you saying the Pakistani workshops are not capable of producing viable AKs?