The high regard in which the weapon is held, has led to it being made under license in over thirty countries, ensuring demand for this most rugged of weapons is met. The popularity of this gas operated rifle – which is easily distinguishable from its contemporaries by its banana shaped magazine – is due to its rugged simplicity, which allows a reliability which far outstrips its more complexed rivals. Kalashnikov shortly after WWII – has been so successful, that is it has become the weapon of choice of not only a hundred or so countries security forces but terrorists and insurgents alike.

The AK-47, probably the most iconic weapon in the history of warfare, is a common sight on the streets of of most counties where I tend to do business. The ever present AK-47, this time in the hands of the Afghan Police But there were other less high profile weapons that were contributed to their cause which are still knocking around this most forbidding of countries. The Stinger antiaircraft missile supplied by the CIA, were used to great effect by the mujahideen, giving the lightly armed Afghans a vital weapon in fighting the deadly Soviet helicopter gunships. The CIA used the Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) as a middle man to supply their proxy force – the Afghan mujahideen – fearing a Russian backlash if their direct involvement was discovered. It was called Operation Cyclone, and involved the supply of arms to the beleaguered Afghanistan forces that were facing the Soviet invasion in the 80s and 90s.

Charlie Wilson’s War, the 2007 blockbuster in which Tom Hanks plays the flamboyant US Congressman, initiated – with the help of the CIA – what is probably ‘the biggest covert operation in history’.

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