Effects of the Proliferation of Small Arms in Pakistan and Afghanistan

SMALL ARMS
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Small Arms Question 1 The proliferation of small arms in Pakistan and Afghanistan continues to get worse due to the following reasons. First, during the cold war, the militaries involved in the Warsaw Pact wanted to standardize and modernize their military equipment. As a result, Bolt-action rifles such as the Lee-Enfields were replaced with Eastern Bloc rifles. This situation led to an excess supply of small arms sold by governments and arms market to militias in these conflict zones. Second, there are many loopholes in the government, making insurgents gain easy access to small arms. Official incompetence and corruption lead to weaker gun control systems that cause many small arms to leave government custody illegally. For example, in 2001, the United States bought thousands of small arms to distribute to Afghan soldiers in combat (Chivers, 2011). However, the lack of proper recording procedures led to losing these small arms to unlicensed holders while in government custody.

First, to control the proliferation of s...