Direct proof of use
The DShK is directly documented in the 2001 War in Afghanistan through an official DVIDS report from Oruzgan province. On September 12, 2010, an Afghan and coalition security patrol came under sustained small-arms and DShK machine-gun fire after crossing a river, which severely limited the patrol's ability to maneuver.
The same report said coalition aviation assets first struck the firing position after the insurgents moved the weapon, then relocated and destroyed the DShK at its new position. Long War Journal covered the same engagement and identified the attackers as Taliban fighters, describing the DShK as part of the heavy weapons used to pin down the patrol.
Sources: DVIDS Oruzgan DShK Engagement, Long War Journal Uruzgan DShK
Timeline
Early-war reporting on Afghan infantry weapons described DShK 12.7 mm heavy machine guns as common in Afghanistan and noted Taliban use of heavy machine guns on vehicles. It also described Soviet- and Chinese-pattern heavy weapons as part of the Afghan battlefield inheritance after the Soviet-Afghan War and the civil-war period.
By 2010, the Oruzgan engagement provides a dated combat-use example. The DShK was not merely listed in a cache or depot: it was fired against a partnered patrol, moved during the engagement, and then destroyed by coalition aircraft.
Sources: Small Arms Review Afghanistan Infantry Weapons, DVIDS Oruzgan DShK Engagement
Operational role
The supported conflict-use role is insurgent heavy machine-gun fire support, area denial, and suppression. In the Oruzgan incident, the DShK was used from an insurgent position to restrict patrol movement until air support suppressed and destroyed it.
The source record should be separated from broader possession claims. DVIDS and Long War Journal support active DShK use in the September 2010 engagement. Separate DVIDS reporting from Kandahar in 2011 documented DShK heavy machine guns among captured or collected Warsaw Pact-pattern weapons at an Afghan National Army logistics site, but that collection record supports wartime circulation and recovery rather than a specific firing incident.
The parent conflict row lists both Taliban-aligned forces and the U.S., NATO, and Afghan government side because the documented engagement involved Taliban or insurgent DShK use against an Afghan-Coalition patrol, followed by coalition aircraft destroying the weapon. The sources do not show a transfer of DShKs to coalition forces; they show an insurgent weapon used in combat and then neutralized.
Sources: DVIDS Oruzgan DShK Engagement, Long War Journal Uruzgan DShK, DVIDS Kandahar Captured Weapons
