Many Afghan security forces dislike the M-16 rifle, according to report
Afghanistan
August 26, 2012
By: Robert Tilford
According to unclassified military report the Afghan Army and police dislike the M-16, which they view as defective because the constantly jam all the time. It has also caused resentment within the ranks of the ANSF toward the American occupation forces.
The military commissioned a Red Team study to get at the root of the problem of insider attacks in Afghanistan. What they discovered in that study was rather shocking to say the least. The report was called: A crisis of trust and cultural incompatibility: A Red Team study of mutual perceptions of Afghan National Security Force personnel and U.S. soldiers in understanding and mitigating the phenomena of ANSF-committed fratricide- murders (source:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/images/pdf/trust-incompatibility.pdf ).
The unclassified report, compiled by Jeffrey Bordin PH.D, found the ANSF had many complaints against U.S. soldiers ranging from them urinating in public and in front of Afghan women to very serious allegations of American soldiers committing war crimes resulting in civilian deaths.
The ANSF members also complained about other things, that cause resentment of American forces. That included such things as the type of weapons provided to them by the U.S. military, particularly the M-16 rifle, which the Afghan's think are defective because they jam so much.
M-16s were strongly disliked. Complaints were that the rifle jammed constantly and are very unreliable" the report noted.
The Afghans resented that the U.S. supplied them with such unreliable rifle.
They want their AK-47s back. Some ANSF members though the M-16 was obsolete leftover from World War II
Apparently some of the ANSF members felt the rifles given to them by the U.S. military were also defective.
Interestingly the Huffington News did an article that mentioned some of the same problem the ANSF are having with the M-16.
Sgt. Said Aga recalled his M16 jamming in the middle of a fierce firefight with the Taliban, and grimaced as his young charges aired their gripes about the Vietnam-era firearm
.A soldier named Abdul Karim said he'd prefer a 30-year-old Russian-made Kalashnikov to an M16 (see article: Afghanistan Army: Troops Complain Of Poor Equipment And Disrespect Afghanistan Army: Troops Complain Of Poor Equipment And Disrespect ).
The New York Times also did an article about the problem prone M16 rifle. It noted their critics, saying the M-16 and M-4 are ill-suited for combat conditions Afghanistan and Iraq.
Unlike the Kalashnikov rifles carried by insurgents, they are too sensitive to sand and fine dust, they say. They overheat quickly and in the worst battles are prone to fail.
Critics also complain about the weapons relative lethality.
Their lightweight bullets lack knock-down power, they say, especially when fired by the M-4, because the reduced barrel length of the carbine results in a reduced muzzle velocity, which lessens the severity of many wounds (see article: How Reliable Is the M-16 Rifle? How Reliable Is the M-16 Rifle? - NYTimes.com ).
The Russian military tested the American made M-16 and found it unsuitable in many respects, not the least of which was reliability.
The M-16 the Russians tested jammed repeatedly and didnt fire after being submerged in water. It also didnt hold up to simple abuse like being dropped from 4-5 feet (see video: Russian Frustration With M16 - YouTube ).
Afghan soldiers confirm that in terms of reliability the AK-47 is far superior to the M-16 any day because it doesnt jam as much and required less maintenance
It represented one area where the Afghans felt they were slighted by the U.S. military.