Further info to indicate general responsibility of AL fo the arms in Afghanistan - highlighting of text mine:
The end of the conflict between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union left Afghanistan with a glut of weapons and a highly militarized population with few employment opportunities. The war had also set a precedent for the violent defence of the Islamic religion. With the Soviet withdrawal, the newly mobilized and professionally trained mujahideen became available as warriors for other conflicts seen as Islamic holy wars. (2) In 1994, for example, the Yemeni president recruited Afghan veterans to participate in another jihad against socialists based in the South of Yemen. (4) Afghanistan has also supported the Chechen separatists, offering its services both as arms supplier and as a training ground for the rebels. (16)
Finally, after more than two decades of ongoing hostilities, Afghanistan is covered in over ten million landmines and other unexploded shells. The country has the highest proportion of disabled people in the world. (8)
TYPES/SOURCES OF FIREARMS WHICH ARE MISUSED
Afghanistan is saturated with weapons left over from the war it fought with the Soviet Union; the country has been described as ?a warren of arsenals?. (4) After the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the United States began supplying large amounts of weapons to various pro-Islamic, anti-Soviet factions. When this practice ended in 1991, the US had sent Afghanistan an estimated 400,000 assault rifles, an undisclosed number of US ?Stinger? and British ?Blowpipe? portable anti-aircraft missiles and launchers, enormous quantities of Italian-made anti-personnel mines, and millions of rounds of ammunition. (5) The arms supplied by the US came to Afghanistan via Pakistan. At the peak of these transfers, 50 to 60 trucks were crossing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border each day. (3) Vast quantities of Soviet weapons remain in Afghanistan as well. Between 1956 and 1978, the USSR gave Afghanistan $1.25 billion (US) in military aid. During this time, the US, Pakistan, India and Egypt all contributed weaponry and military training to various factions within Afghanistan. Quantities of arms flowing into the country increased rapidly after the outbreak of active combat in 1979. (2)
These weapons, along with those left over from the conflict in Cambodia, are the principal source for insurgent groups and crime rings in South Asia. Many of the weapons have ended up in Pakistan and India. Pakistan took advantage of its status as a transshipment point to divert up to 70% of the weapons sent by the US to arm the mujahideen. (2) (3)
Arms have continued to flow into this war-torn region. The Russian Defence Minister admitted that his country had been ?rendering assistance continuously to the Northern Alliance since 1996?, in violation of the Tashkent Declaration. Russia had signed this Declaration in 1999 along with several of Afghanistan?s neighbours and the US. The agreement was intended to stem the flow of small arms into Afghanistan. (21)
The recent US-led war in Afghanistan has continued to add to both the supply of and demand for small arms in the region. (3) (21) While the US and Japan pledged $95 million (US) to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration initiatives, the Coalition practice of providing guns to their local allies has meant further increases in small arms proliferation. (20) The European Union also supplied arms to the Northern Alliance, reinterpreting its own 1996 arms embargo on Afghanistan to apply only to Taliban-controlled regions. (21)
In addition to arms left over from wars, large quantities of illegal arms flow into Afghanistan from Pakistan. The illegal ?father-and-son? weapons manufacturing operations in Pakistan produce approximately 20,000 units each year. Many of these workshops are located along the border, and many arms flow into Afghanistan. (4)
There is also some evidence that arms manufactured in China are moving through Pakistan and into Afghanistan, with the complicity of the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. These transfers allegedly include hundreds of short-range rockets, mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, and heavy machine gun ammunition. (4) During the Taliban?s rule, Tajikistan was alleged to be smuggling arms to opposition forces in Northern Afghanistan in exchange for narcotics. (10) Tajiks are the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan; the Pashtuns are the largest, making up approximately 40% of the population. The Taliban was composed primarily of Pashtuns. (11)