Don’t try this at home, because it’s just stupid.

In 1996, Afghanistan Northern Alliance fighters, loyal to Ahmed Shah Massood faced off against a Taliban air and ground attack. One eccentric fighter opted to turn his Ak-47 upside down, in a misguided effort to defend against the air attack. It didn’t work out for him.

Yes, at this time the Taliban had an Air Force.

 

Afghanistan – Taliban Jets Pound Village Killing 20 People – APTV

Hussein Kot, 14 kilometres north of Kabul – 22 October 1996

In some of the heaviest fighting in weeks, troops loyal to the ousted government pounded Taliban army positions north of Kabul, raining hundreds of rockets down on their positions. The Taliban army of religious students, who took over Kabul on September the 27th, retaliated with a blistering artillery attack and heavy tank fire on troops directed by the deposed military chief, Ahmed Shah Massood. Massood discussed strategy with General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s second in command, General Abdulmajid Rouzi on the eve of the massive assault. Another soldier aims and fires from his position in the village of Hussein Kot – he has no idea if his rocket propelled grenade has hit its target. But it’s all part of the steady barrage of artillery that troops loyal to the ousted Afghanistan government are inflicting on the Taliban forces who have taken control of the capital, Kabul.

Taliban jets pounded a village north of the beleaguered Afghan capital with cluster bombs, killing at least 20 people. Many of the dead were children. The bombs devastated Kalaquan, a collection of dried mud homes on the plains 12 miles northwest of Kabul. The assault is thought to be in retaliation for Wednesday’s major offensive by former Afghan government troops attempting to retake the capital Kabul.

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