Painting Guide - Afghan Forces

This list is in no way designed to be an exhaustive guide, but it should be enough to get you started. Although I refer to “Afghan forces” I am mainly concerned with the irregular units of the Mujahideen or indeed militia forces operating with the Soviets & regular Afghan army.

Afghan dress is made up of traditional Afghan dress, a mix of western & traditional & combat dress supplied via the west or from China.

Traditional dress is made up of the turban, Kurta (long shirt) loose fitting trousers & “chapati” sandals. The trousers & Kurta are almost always the same colour. These colours should be fairly washed out shades of drab, dark brown, tan, pale creams plus various shades of blue & blue grey. Black & white are also worn although the black should be heavily toned down to reflect the effects of the climate on clothing. Alternative headwear is the Afghan cap (puhtee), which seems to be light khaki in colour. A blanket or “pukhoor is often worn over the top in cold weather. Again I would stick to the above colours & used a muted or washed out tone. These often have locally embroidered patterns.

Western dress is a mix of civilian sweaters & waistcoats plus “Army Surplus Stores” issue combat wear. Waistcoats are extremely popular mainly for the extra pockets!

As units of the regular Afghan army are known to desert en masse it is reasonable to use troops in the coarse grey woolen uniform & peaked cap of the DRA in Mujahideen units.

Personal equipment is either captured Soviet kit or has Chinese origin. Any shade of drab or light khaki will suffice. Knapsacks are often locally made copies of military styles. Linen or khaki tones seem to look best. Leather bandoliers from the Colonial era are also still in use.

Happy painting,

Dave Woodward