Afghan 'gun culture' is fuelled by fear -- Mark Sedra and Robert Muggah

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, billions of dollars worth of firepower have been funnelled to successive regimes and armed groups such as the Mujahedeen and the Northern Alliance. Arms dealers have sought and found thriving markets there. Suppliers ranged from the Soviets, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, to China, Iran, and Central Asian states. --- The Geneva-based Small Arms Survey estimates that Afghanistan is home to as many as 10 million arms, including thousands of U.S.-made FIM-92 Stinger missiles. Unexploded ordnance and mines littering the countryside also attract enterprising Afghans who fashion them into the improvised explosive devices that currently wreak havoc among NATO troops.