Direct proof of use
Armament Research Services documented AKM-type rifles among the long guns captured by the Taliban during the May-August 2021 campaign that ended the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The same survey described a July 2021 Herat Province image showing a former Afghan National Army soldier with several AKM-type rifles, including one fitted with an underbarrel grenade launcher, allegedly stolen from Afghan National Security Forces before his defection to the Taliban.
The public evidence supports captured and fielded Taliban possession of AKM-type rifles in the war's final campaign. It does not, on its own, identify a named firefight in which a specific AKM rifle was fired.
Sources: ARES Taliban Capture Survey
Timeline
The documented AKM evidence belongs to the final phase of the war. ARES places the Taliban offensive from May to August 2021, records a July 2021 Herat Province example of AKM-type rifles associated with a defection to the Taliban, and notes that Taliban forces entered Kabul on August 15, 2021 after rapid territorial gains.
Sources: ARES Taliban Capture Survey
Role in the campaign
The AKM appears in the Afghanistan record as a legacy 7.62x39mm Kalashnikov-pattern rifle rather than as a new foreign-supplied system. ARES described small arms and light weapons as the majority of captured Taliban materiel and listed AKM-type rifles alongside M16-series rifles, M4-series weapons, Type 3 AK rifles, AMD-65 rifles, PM md. 63 rifles, Type 56-series rifles, and Zastava M70B1 rifles.
For this record, the supported side is the Taliban and allied militants. The supported role is captured equipment: rifles taken from Afghan government and security-force holdings during the collapse of government control, with AKM-type rifles forming part of a wider pool of captured long guns.
Sources: ARES Taliban Capture Survey
Post-capture context
Conflict Armament Research characterized the Taliban seizure of equipment previously provided to Afghan forces as a major diversion event, while a later Small Arms Survey situation update found that AK-pattern assault rifles and pistols remained common in Taliban weapons-control and market contexts in Balkh province. Those sources help explain the broader post-2021 arms environment, but the AKM-specific conflict-use claim here rests on the ARES documentation.
Sources: CAR Illicit Weapons in Afghanistan, Small Arms Survey Balkh Situation Update
