Jump to content

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AfghanParatrooper1989 (talk | contribs) at 15:14, 26 November 2023 (PD9 = Camp Phoenix). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
نیروهای مسلح جمهوری دموکراتیک افغانستان
Emblem of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Motto'Watan ya Kaffan!' (Country or Death) (Pashto)
'Sar Warkawoo, Sangar ne Warkawoo' (We'll give our heads, we won't give the trench) (Pashto)
Founded1978: 44 years ago
Disbanded1992: 30 years ago
Service branchesAfghan Army
Afghan Air Force and Air Defense
Afghan Border Guard
Afghan National Police
HeadquartersMinistry of Defense, Kabul
Leadership
Commander-in-ChiefNur Muhammad Taraki (1978-1978)
Hafizullah Amin (1978-1979)
Babrak Karmal (1979-1986)
Mohammad Najibullah (1986-1992)
Minister of DefenceAbdul Qadir (1978-1978)
Shahnawaz Tanai
Nazar Mohammad (1984-1986)
Mohammed Rafie (1979-1984, 1986-1988)
Aslam Watanjar (1990-1992)
Personnel
Military age18-40
ConscriptionYes
Industry
Domestic suppliersAFSORT (Afghan Soviet Transport Company)
Foreign suppliers Soviet Union
 Czechoslovakia
 East Germany
Related articles
HistorySaur Revolution
Chindawol uprising
1979 Herat uprising
1979 uprisings in Afghanistan
3 Hoot uprising
Bala Hissar uprising
1980 student protests in Kabul
Tajbeg Palace assault
Soviet-Afghan War
Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)

The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (Persian: نیروهای مسلح جمهوری دموکراتیک), also known as the Afghan National Army (Persian: ارتش ملی افغانستان) was the military force of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1978 until its collapse in 1992. Following President Mohammad Najibullah’s National Reconciliation Act in 1986, it was renamed into the Armed Forces of the Republic of Afghanistan (Persian: نیروهای مسلح جمهوری افغانستان).

History

Mass killings of DRA military personnel

In 2005, Afghan Interior Minister Yousuf Stanizai issued a statement citing that a burial had been found in the province of Paktia, containing the bodies of 530 killed soldiers from the DRA's army. This was soon followed by another burial found in the same area, which contained over 1000 bodies of killed soldiers and officers of the DRA.[1]

According to the province's governor at the time, the burials contained soldiers of the Afghan Army's 9th brigade (judging by the remnants of military uniform), killed by fighters belonging to Afghan mujahideen field commanders after the brigade had been disbanded.[2]

Structure

On January 9, 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.[3]

The armed forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan included:[4][5]

  • Structures subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the DRA:
    • Afghan Air Force
    • Specialised troops
    • The rear of the army
    • Border troops
    • Military educational institutions
  • Armed formations of the Ministry of State Security (KhAD)[6][7]
  • Armed formations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Sarandoy)[7]
  • Civil defense detachments (with the rights of types of armed forces) – self-defense detachments of local residents

However, it is reported that KhAD e Nezaami was military intelligence not part of the main KhAD.

Creation and staffing of civil defense detachments were carried out on a territorial basis. In comparison with units of the regular army, they were equipped with older WW2-era surplus weapons, especially in the initial period of the war. The first rural self-defense units were created in April–May 1980, in the Surkh-Rud County by residents of the villages of Hatyrkhel, Ibraimkhel and Umarkhel.[8]

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.[9]

Afghan Army roundel from 1980-1987

The structure of the Afghan army had:[5]

  • Army corps – 3 (1st, 2nd, and 3rd)

In 1978, the 1st Army Corps, also referred to as the Central Corps were stationed in Kabul. The 2nd Army Corps were stationed in Kandahar and the 3rd Army Corps were stationed in Gardez.[10] By the spring of 1992, the Afghan Army would consist of five corps with the 1st now being stationed in Jalalabad, the 4th stationed in Herat, the 5th in Charikar and the 6th Corps at Kunduz.[11][12][13]

  • Infantry divisions – 12 (2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 20th and 25th)
  • Brigades – 22 (combined arms, tank, artillery, 6 Commando brigades, 1 air defense brigade, 11 border, 2 army logistics brigades)
  • Regiments – 39 (all types and types of troops, including 12 combined arms, artillery, "Commandos", engineering, communications, 8 regiments of the Air Force, 6 – air defense, 11 regiments of territorial troops; 2 regiments of the rear of the army)
  • Separate battalions (divisions) and separate squadrons of the branches and types of troops (special troops) and the rear of the army
  • Military educational institutions:
    • Military educational institutions for the training of officers of various profiles
    • 29th training regiment
    • Higher officer courses "A"
    • Courses for the study of new technology
    • Military lyceum
    • Communications troops training center
    • training regiment of border troops
    • Rear school
    • 2 training centers
    • Military music school

By 1985, the structure of the irregular forces changed somewhat to include self-defense groups formed at enterprises:[14]

  • Detachments of Sarandoy formed according to the territorial principle.[14] The first detachment in the country was created in August 1981 from 53 students of Kabul University.[15]
  • Detachments of the border militia ("malish") formed according to the tribal principle.[14]

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".[16]

Equipment and staffing

Main article: List of equipment of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan

Under the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, weapon deliveries by the Soviets were increased and included Mi-24 helicopters, MiG-23 fighter aircraft, ZSU-23-4 Shilka and ZSU-57-2 anti-aircraft self-propelled mounts, MT-LB armored personnel carriers, BM-27 Uragan and BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket systems and 9K52 Luna-M and Scud missile launchers.[17]

On February 1, 1986, the staffing of military equipment and personnel of the Air Force and Air Defense was:[5]

  • Personnel – 19 400 people (72% of the staff)
  • Aircraft – 226, of which 217 (96%) combat-ready vehicles
  • helicopters – 89, of which 62 are combat-ready

At its height the Afghan Air Force contained:

Excluding the armed formations of Sarandoy, the armed forces numbered 160 000 people.[citation needed] Other later Western reporting indicated an active strength of around 515,000 by 1990.[22][23]

Equipment:[5]

  • Tanks - 1 568
  • BMP - 129
  • BTR and BRDM - 1 225
  • Field and rocket artillery guns, mortars – 4 880
  • vehicles – about 13 000
  • 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.[24]

Regular army units were armed with Soviet-made weapons and military equipment. Most DRA soldiers were either equipped with the AKM and AK-74 assault rifles.[25] In the early 1980s, civilian self-defense forces were equipped with older PPSh-41 submachine guns, which would be phased out for more modern rifles closer to the regime's end.[26]

The territorial self-defense units were armed mainly with light small arms, including obsolete and captured models. Thus, 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 pistol. 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.[27]

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.[28]

Holidays

  • August 19 – DRA Army Day.[29]

References

  1. ^ The skull of a dead government soldier., July 1989, retrieved 2023-07-16
  2. ^ Происшествия // «Зарубежное военное обозрение», No. 11 (704), 2005. стр. 76
  3. ^ В. В. Басов, Г. А. Поляков. Афганистан: трудные судьбы революции. М., «Знание», 1988. стр. 42
  4. ^ Коллектив авторов (1997). "статья «Афганистан»". Военная энциклопедия. Vol. 1 (10000 экз ed.). М.: Воениздат. pp. 308–310. ISBN 5-203-01655-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Никитенко Е. Г. (2004). Афганистан: От войны 80-х до прогноза новых войн (10000 экз ed.). Балашиха: Астрель. pp. 130–134. ISBN 5-271-07363-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Spies, Lies and the Distortion of History – The Washington Post". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ a b Oliker, Olga (2011-10-13). "Building Afghanistan's Security Forces in Wartime: The Soviet Experience".
  8. ^ Т. А. Гайдар. Под афганским небом: записки военного корреспондента. М., «Советская Россия», 1981. стр. 36–37
  9. ^ Защищая революцию // «Красная звезда», No. 296 (18283) от 27 декабря 1983. стр. 3
  10. ^ Urban, Mark (1988). War in Afghanistan. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-333-43263-1.
  11. ^ 3rd Corps, by the AMF period, 'theoretically incorporated 14th Division, 30th Division, 822nd Brigade, Border Brigades, and approximately 800.. in the Governor's Force in Paktya, Ghazni, Paktika, and Khost Provinces. Bhatia and Sedra 2008, 209.
  12. ^ Davis, Anthony (1993). "The Afghan Army". Jane's Intelligence Review.
  13. ^ Davis, Anthony (July 1994). "The Battlegrounds of Northern Afghanistan". Jane's Intelligence Review: Pages 323 onwards.
  14. ^ a b c В. В. Басов, Г. А. Поляков. Афганистан: трудные судьбы революции. М., «Знание», 1988. стр. 45
  15. ^ К. Ф. Рашидов. Афганистан: пора становления: репортаж с места событий. М., «Известия», 1983. стр. 50–51
  16. ^ Нинель Стрельникова. Возвращение из Афганистана. М., «Молодая гвардия», 1990. стр. 57
  17. ^ "::DDR ::Heavy Weapons". Archived from the original on 2006-05-13. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
  18. ^ Flight Magazine 1990 or The Encyclopaedia of World Air Forces
  19. ^ Flight Magazine or The Encyclopaedia of World Air Forces
  20. ^ 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. ISBN 1-85780-108-3.
  21. ^ Urban, Mark (1988). War in Afghanistan. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan Press. pp. 225–226. ISBN 978-0-333-43263-1.
  22. ^ Barfield, Thomas Jefferson (29 March 2010). Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. Princeton University Press. p. 245. ISBN 978-1-4008-3453-2.
  23. ^ "Lessons of the Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan – Middle East Policy Council". www.MEPC.org. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  24. ^ Нешумов Ю. А. (2006). "Границы Афганистана: трагедия и уроки" (2500 экз ed.). М.: «Граница». p. 222.
  25. ^ "Army Times: National Army swaps AK47s for M16s, pickups for Humvees". Afghan Regional Security Integration Command- South. 11 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2009-03-24.
  26. ^ Г. П. Кашуба. Афганские встречи. М., изд-во ДОСААФ СССР, 1981. стр. 73
  27. ^ 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
  28. ^ В. Ф. Изгаршев. По долгу интернационалистов (из афганского дневника военного журналиста). М., Воениздат, 1981. стр. 29
  29. ^ Сегодня – День армии ДРА // "Красная звезда" от 19 августа 1987
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Armed_Forces_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan&oldid=1186956978"