So I started watching the ‘Turning Point: 9/11 and The War on Terror’ docuseries, and I noticed a comment from the CIA op that was interviewed. He said they were sending in “crates of AK47s” through the Karachi port in Pakistan, to the mujahideen. Which leads to my question, were we purchasing arms directly from the Soviet Union? or were these purchased on the black market? Does it matter? Jesus, it is so disheartening to look back at these events. I hope I’m asking the right group, thanks in advance!
Most of the AKs (and indeed other Soviet weaponry) supplied under Operation Cyclone came from Israel which had in turn captured huge amounts of it from surrendering Soviet equipped arab divisions during the closing stages of the Yom Kippur War. Now, this was probably more a matter of convenience than necessity because lord knows AKs were, and are, plentiful around the world but Israel was a friendly nations that just happened to be sitting on huge stockpiles of Soviet military equipment at a time when the CIA found itself in need of huge stockpiles of Soviet military equipment.