Russia Not Considering Supplies to Afghan Army — Source

Moscow has denied Western media claims of the U.S.’ alleged intention to buy “an unthinkable amount” of ammunition from Russia for Afghanistan. “Moscow is not considering large deliveries of ammunition to Afghanistan, and the United States has not made any such offer,” a high-ranking Russian military diplomat said.

“Russia does not plan to supply ammunition or military hardware to Afghanistan. Besides, the Afghan army has sufficient reserves of all types of ammunition,” he said

Recently, The Daily Telegraph reported that “U.S. defense officials have secretly requested a ”prodigious quantity“ of ammunition from Russia to supply the Afghan army in case a Democrat president takes over in Washington and pulls out American troops. Pentagon chiefs have asked arms suppliers for a quote on a vast amount of ordnance, including more than 78 million rounds of AK47 (a well-known Kalashnikov submachine gun) ammunition, 100,000 rocket-propelled grenades, and 12,000 tank shells — equivalent to about 15 times the British Army’s annual requirements. The order also suggests the Afghan army will be equipped with T62 tanks, Mi24 Hind attack helicopters, and Spandrel anti-tank missiles,” the newspaper says.

The author of the article also claims that “defense specialists have said that Russian arms chiefs at first ”fell about laughing“ because they thought the order was a joke when it arrived this month. But with the Americans said to be pressing for a price and earliest delivery date, the request is being rapidly processed and exports could begin before the end of this year”.