The new Taliban government in Afghanistan has begun to renew its artillery units and has already delivered a batch of repaired M114 howitzers that were put out of commission by the previous government.

The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan made this statement in its report.

Taliban representatives reported that the heavy weapons workshop of the 205th Army Corps “Al-Badr” restored and prepared for operation eight M114 155mm howitzers.

The report shows an armored vehicle graveyard with the unit’s old equipment and a workshop where Soviet D-30A 122mm guns are also being restored. M-30 howitzers from 1938 can be seen among them.

The M114s conducted demonstration firing, which confirmed that the repaired systems were ready for use. Interestingly, the trailed howitzers were transported by both “International” trucks and ordinary pickup trucks.

The footage shows that the Taliban are using Turkish MKE M107 HE 155mm high-explosive fragmentation shells, which were supplied to the country during the previous government.

Building the capabilities of the Afghan army

After the Taliban seized power, the country’s army lost a significant amount of capacity due to the loss of personnel and the destruction of infrastructure and military equipment. The new government retained the old brigade and corps structure and began to gradually restore what was lost, reporting on the repair of armored vehicles and other weapons.

In particular, last year, Militarnyi reported that about 50 T-62 and T-62M tanks were returned to service by the engineering group of the 2nd Brigade of the 313th Central Army Corps. These vehicles were left in the country with the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 and have been inoperable since then.

Later, the country’s defense ministry repeatedly published reports of the restoration of T-55 and T-62 tanks, as well as BMP-1 and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles and M113 armored personnel carriers. In some months, the number of restored vehicles reached a dozen.

The artillery units of the Afghan army are mostly armed with Soviet D-30 122mm howitzers and BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers. Given this, the restoration of 155mm artillery should be a major boost for the Taliban.

In addition, at the 2022 parade, the Afghan military demonstrated heavy BM-27 Uragan 220mm rocket systems, as well as 9K72 Elbrus and 9K52 Luna-M tactical missile systems. However, their actual technical condition and availability of ammunition remain unknown.

The Taliban needs to build up its army to consolidate its power in the region. In addition, the new government in 2023 declared its intention to fight the “corrupt Islamic Republic of Iran with more enthusiasm than in the war against America.” This was accompanied by an attack on an Iranian border post using armored vehicles.