AK-74 AK-74 The AK-74 (Russian: or "Kalashnikov automatic rifle model 1974") is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s by Russian designer Mikhail Kalashnikov as the replacement for the earlier AKM (itself a refined version of the AK-47). It uses a smaller 5.45×39mm cartridge, replacing the 7.62×39mm chambering of earlier Kalashnikov-pattern weapons. The rifle first saw service with Soviet forces engaged in the 1979 Afghanistan conflict. The head of the Afghan bureau of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence claimed that the CIA paid $5,000 for the first AK-74 captured by the Mujahideen during the Soviet–Afghan War. Presently, the rifle continues to
Type 56 assault rifle in 1996 (a majority of the Chinese small arms used by the Taliban were provided by Pakistan). Since the overthrow of the Taliban by U.S.-led Coalition forces in late 2001, the Type-56 assault rifle has been utilized by the Afghan National Army, with serving alongside many other AK-47 and AKM variant rifles. The Type-56 has been regularly seen in the hands of militants from the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas in the Palestinian territories. The Type-56 has been used by the Janjaweed in the Darfur region of Sudan with pictures and news footage showing members of