Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Afghanistan's military from 1978 to 1992
Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978–1986) د افغانستان د لوی انتخاباتي جمهوريت مسلحې ځواک (Pashto) نیروهای مسلح جمهوری دموکراتیک افغانستان (Dari)Armed Forces of the Republic of Afghanistan (1986–1992) د افغانستان د جمهوري ریاست وسله وال ځواکونه (Pashto) نیروهای مسلح جمهوری افغانستان (Dari)
Emblem of the Afghan Army, 1980–1992
Shoulder patch of the Afghan Army (قوای مسلح, lit.'Armed Forces'), 1978–1992
وطن یا کفن (Watan ya Kaffan; "Country or the Shroud") سر ورکوو٬ سنګر نه ورکوو (Sar Warkawoo, Sangar ne Warkawoo; "Sacrifice our Heads, but not our Trench")
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, known as the Armed Forces of the Republic of Afghanistan after 1986, was the national military of Afghanistan from 1978 to 1992.
History
Formation of the Afghan National Guard
The Guard Regiments of the Afghan Army were established in the 1970s, under Daoud Khan and were disbanded in 1978-79 to strengthen the 8th Division’s new brigades. In 1978, the Afghan Army had its own Republican Guard Brigade, which was part of the Afghan Army under the Republic of Afghanistan.[1] After the Saur Revolution, a violent Marxist–Leninist coup orchestrated by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan in 1978, the brigade remained as part of the army. The Republican Guard Brigade was present during the Saur Revolution Flag Raising Ceremony in 1978, alongside President Nur Muhammad Taraki and Hafizullah Amin, donning Stahlhelms from the old regime with red bands, and holding the Republican-era flag of the Afghan Army.[2][3] In 1983-84, the Guard Regiments were reformed due to growth in military strength during the tenure of Babrak Karmal.[4]
In 1978, the Presidential Guard Brigade was also referred to as the 21st Guard Regiment until 1988. The 44th Guards Regiment was identified in 1979, though it may have undergoing reformation. The 22nd Guard Regiment was also present during the Second Battle of Zhawar.[4] The brigade had various roles, such as performing ceremonial duties like military funerals, protecting monuments and the Arg Presidential Palace,[5][6] and serving as guards of honour and the Presidential Guard. Additionally, the Presidential Guard and the Soviet VDV were often together near the Arg and were photographed in a “Soviet-Afghan Friendship Room”.
During the early months of Babrak Karmal’s presidency, the Presidential Guard were given a different style of uniform by April 1980, compared to the usual Afghan military dress uniform.[6][5] They had their own distinct sleeve patches and cap badges, instead of the Parcham emblem worn by every branch in the Afghan Armed Forces. Both the patch and the cap badge featured the iconography of a sword going through a horse shoe, surrounded by golden wheat, making the Presidential Guard distinct from servicemen in other branches. These uniforms were temporarily used during the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan.[7][8] The Presidential Guard also carried sabres for military parades, as well as Mosin–Nagant rifles with bayonets fixed to them when standing guard on parade grounds, all for ceremonial purposes.[9][10]
The Presidential Guard Brigade became part of the Guards Corps established in 1988, later renamed to Special Guard, or Gard-e-Khas, along with the 22nd and 44th Guard Regiment. The name was later changed to the Afghan National Guard, or Gard-e-Mili, which consisted of the 88th Heavy Artillery Regiment and 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade, both of which also fought in Jalalabad.[11] As a result of the disbandment of the Afghan Air Assault Brigades, the 37th and 38th Commando Battalion also became part of the National Guard, according to Urban.[12] However, this is disputed, as Conroy states that the 37th and 38th Commando Battalion did not join the National Guard, but rather maintaining their independence and were sent to Bala Hissar Fortress.[13]
Mass killings of DRA military personnel
In 2005, Afghan Interior Minister Yousuf Stanizai issued a statement that a burial site had been found in the province of Paktia, containing the bodies of 530 soldiers from the DRA army who were executed after surrendering to Mujahideen forces in the area.[14] This was soon followed by the discovery of another burial site in the same area, which contained over 1,000 bodies of DRA soldiers and officers.[15][16]
According to the province's governor at the time, the burial sites contained soldiers of the Afghan Army's 9th Brigade, identified by the remains of their military uniforms. These soldiers were killed by fighters belonging to Afghan mujahideen field commanders after the brigade had been disbanded.[17]
In 1985, during the Panjshir offensives, corpses of Afghan Army troops, as well as the corpses of PDPA party members, ordinary people, and parents who allowed their sons to join the Afghan Armed Forces, were discovered by the Soviet Army and detachments of Afghan paratroopers in Panjshir, more specifically in the “Safed-Chi” gorge. The corpses were subsequently dragged out and laid in straight lines after their discovery. Kabul National TV and Soviet media from the State Television and Radio Fund claimed that these soldiers and civilians were initially prisoners who were dragged down the stairs in the area before being locked in underground prisons, tortured, and denied food and water before being executed by the Mujahideen in Panjshir. An Afghan paratrooper interviewed at the site of the massacre claimed that 264 people died in the killings perpetrated by Jamiat-e Islami altogether.[18][19]
Structure
On 9 January 1980, a law on universal conscription was adopted, allowing the government to draft men aged 20 to 40 years old into the army. Subsequently, the law was amended.[20]
Creation and staffing of civil defense detachments were carried out on a territorial basis. In comparison to the Afghan Army, these civil defense detachments were equipped with older WW II-era surplus weapons, especially during the early part of the war, such as the PPSh-41. The first rural self-defense units were created in April–May 1980, in the Surkh-Rōd District of Nangarhar Province by residents of the villages of Hatyrkhel, Ibrahimkhel and Umarkhel.[26]
In the summer of 1980, the creation of other units began. In December 1983, the unification of territorial self-defense units into a civil defense system began.[27] The Afghan Border Guard additionally had their own anthem.[28]
Army Corps
In 1978, the 1st Army Corps, also referred to as the Central Corps, was stationed in Kabul. The 2nd Army Corps was stationed in Kandahar, and the 3rd Army Corps was stationed in Gardez.[29] By the spring of 1992, the Afghan Army consisted of six corps in total with the 1st now being stationed in Jalalabad, the 4th stationed in Herat, the 5th in Charikar, and the 6th Corps at Kunduz.[30]
All three corps of the Afghan Army had their own “Special Purpose Battalions (SpN)”, that had ties to the Intelligence Directorate of the Afghan Army (KhAD-e-Nezami).[31] The 203rd SpN was tied to the 1st Army Corps, the 212th SpN was tied to the 3rd Army Corps, and the 230th SpN was tied to the 2nd Army Corps. SpN operators took part in the Marmoul offensives alongside the KGB Border Guard, the Battles of Zhawar, and Operation Magistral. Mark Urban referred to the SpN as “Reconnaissance Battalions”. It is unlikely that the three newer corps had their own Special Purpose Battalions during the spring of 1992, due to the government nearing complete collapse.
Infantry divisions
The Afghan Army had 13 infantry divisions, with two separate divisions, such as:[32]
Additionally, there could have been a possible division in Lashkar-Gah, Helmand Province.
Brigades
The Armed Forces of the DRA had 22 brigades altogether, consisting of combined arms, tank, artillery, and commando brigades; a Republican guard brigade in 1978 (which became part of the Afghan National Guard in 1988); and an air defense brigade, border, and army logistics brigades.
466th Commando Battalion (outskirts of East Kandahar)
84th Commando Battalion (formed in 1987)
85th Commando Battalion (formed in 1987)
A possible 344th Commando Battalion in 1980
625th Operative Battalion
626th Operative Battalion
627th Operative Battalion
628th Operative Battalion
629th Operative Battalion
The Afghan commando air assault brigades ceased operations in 1988 during the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. In 1991, the 666th Commando Battalion was completely decimated during the Siege of Khost by the Mujahideen. Information on the fate of other commando battalions is unknown, but supposedly, none of them appeared on a list of surrendered units that came under the control of the mujahideen in 1992.
The Border Force of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan initially reported to the Ministry of Frontiers and Tribes before being reverted to the Ministry of Defense. Their job was to prevent infiltration into the country, as many foreigners (such as Afghan Arabs)[38] illegally entered Afghanistan to join the mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Army and the Afghan Armed Forces. Prominent Arab mujahideen figures include Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, who was potentially assassinated by KhAD. The Soviet KGB was also involved in the training and organization of the Afghan Border Forces, which were reportedly more effective than regular Afghan Army troops in protecting borders near Pakistan. The Afghan Border Forces were also involved in extensive mining of the borders, in order to prevent further infiltration.
393rd Training Air Regiment (Dehadi Airbase, Balkh)
Unknown Air Regiment
Afghan Air Defense
99th SAM Regiment (Kabul)
92nd SAM Regiment (Kabul)
Afghan National Guard
88th Heavy Artillery Regiment
Ministry of Interior (Sarandoy)
24th Sarandoy Regiment (Badakhshan)
7th Operative Regiment
10th Engineer-Sapper Regiment
Unknown regiments
25th Infantry Division
1 unknown tank regiment
12 combined arms regiments
6 air defense regiments
11 territorial troop regiments
2 regiments of the rear of the army
Unknown artillery regiments
Unknown engineering regiments
Unknown communication regiments
Separate battalions, divisions and squadrons
The Armed Forces of the DRA had separate battalions, divisions, and squadrons in every branch that were non-divisional, including special troops and units in the rear of the army.
Afghan Army
1st Central Army Corps Reconnaissance Battalion
57th Training Regiment (Kabul)
10th Engineer Regiment (Hussein Kut, Parwan)
5th Transport Regiment (Siah Sang Garrison, Kabul)
119th Transport Regiment (Sherpur Barracks, Kabul)
Military educational institutions for the training of officers
29th Educational Brigade
Higher officer courses "A"
New technology courses
Military lyceum
Communications troops training centre
Border Force training regiment
Supply schools
2 additional training centres
Military musical school
By 1985, the structure of the irregular forces had changed to include self-defense groups formed at enterprises:[43]
Detachments of Sarandoy formed according to the territorial principle.[43] The first detachment in the country was created in August 1981 from 53 students of Kabul University.[44]
Detachments of the border militia ("malish") formed according to the tribal principle.[43]
As General S. M. Mikhailov noted, by 1989, the Afghan army was at a fairly high level of combat capability in terms of military training of personnel, equipment, and weapons.
“What is missing is unity, this is the main problem. The second reason for the difficulties is associated with very weak work among the population, for attracting the broad masses to the side of the people's power".[45]
60 Su-7s and Su-17s – Issue 21 (1985) of Warplane, a British partwork, reported that some 48 Su-7BMs, without Su-7UM two-seaters, had been supplied from 1970, forming the core of two fighter/ground attack squadrons at Shindand Airbase.[50]
Excluding the armed formations of Sarandoy, the armed forces numbered 160,000 people.[51] Later Western reports indicated an active strength of around 515,000 by 1990.[52][53]
Scud-B and C launchers and Missiles – 43+ Launchers, 2,000+ Missiles
There is no exact information about the number of armed formations of Sarandoy (brigades, regiments and separate battalions) in the last year of the existence of the Republic of Afghanistan. At its peak, Sarandoy had about 115,000 personnel.[54]
Regular army units were armed with Soviet-made weapons and military equipment. Most DRA soldiers were equipped with either AKM and AK-74 assault rifles.[55] In the early 1980s, civilian self-defense forces were equipped with older PPSh-41 submachine guns, which were phased out for more modern rifles closer to the regime's end.[56]
The territorial self-defense units were armed mainly with light small arms, including obsolete and captured models. For example, in February 1986, the tribal militia battalion under the command of Usman-bek from Kakis-nau, which provided protection for the Sarok-Kalas-nau road in the province of Herat, had 300 fighters. Half of these fighters were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, and the rest with a Makarov or older Tokarev pistols. The militia also had PPSh-41 submachine guns and rifles of various systems, along with three R-104 radio stations, eleven R-105 radios, one jeep, and four trucks.[57]
Printed editions
Since April 27, 1980, the official publication of the DRA's Ministry of Defense was a newspaper titled “د سرتیري حقیقت” (Soldier's Truth). Around fifteen thousand copies were in circulation.[58] Additionally, the Ministry of Defense had its own annual publication (in both Pashto and Dari) titled “دا اردو مجله” (The Military Magazine, also referred to as “De Revue Militaire” in French), which began in 1939 under the Kingdom of Afghanistan.[59]
^Orbis Publishing Ltd, 'Sukhoi Su-7 'Fitter' – Soviet Sledgehammer, 'Warplane, Vol. 2, Issue 21, p.413. More accurate information will be found in Gordon, Yefim (2004). Sukhoi Su-7/-17/-20-22: Soviet Fighter and Fighter-Bomber Family. Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing. ISBN1-85780-108-3.
^Г. П. Кашуба. Афганские встречи. М., изд-во ДОСААФ СССР, 1981. стр. 73
^В. В. Твиров. Дневник переводчика // Афганистан болит в моей душе... Воспоминания, дневники советских воинов, выполнявших интернациональный долг в Афганистане / лит. запись П. Ткаченко. М., «Молодая гвардия», 1990. стр. 233–234
^В. Ф. Изгаршев. По долгу интернационалистов (из афганского дневника военного журналиста). М., Воениздат, 1981. стр. 29
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