Afghan Communist Army Uniforms

[MGH]

Hey wargaming collective, looking for some advice. I am about to paint up some 28mm figs for fighting the 1980s Afghan rebels v.s. the Communist Afghan army. I'm looking for what sort of colors to use for the Afghan army. Did they just wear same as the Soviets?

I googled for color pics and it was confusing. I would find pics where the so called troops shown were wearing WW2 German unis and helmets but believe that to be sort of a palace guard get up. Then some troops in brown, others in a more light grey then some in khaki...maybe they used all kinds? Their field caps look different than Soviet headgear, that's for certain.

Also I recall some security types called KHAD - did they have different uniforms than the regular army? There is very little online that I could find about those guys.

Any help appreciated, gentlemen!

[irishserb]

My research dates to 1999-2000, and to be honest, I am a bit foggy on it all,  others here will likely be able to offer more accurate info.

Afghan uniform colors were a gray winter, or khaki/tan summer color.  No two color images that I could find, showed what seemed to be the same color, gray or tan.  Uniform patterns looked more British in style to me, than Russian,  but I could never identify them as any specific pattern.  And, the pattern seemed to vary from one pic to the next.

The gray ranged from a fairly dark dull color to a very faded, relatively light color.  In my notes, I called out Vallejo 869 Basalt gray base, weathered and lightened.

For the Khacki color, my notes say mix 1 part 897 Medium Gray with 1 part 847 Iraqui Sand or 1 part 988 Khaki (all Vallejo model color).

Photos sometimes appeared to show a mix of the two uniforms (gray pants/khaki blouse, and the opposite as well).

Caps are uniform color, more recent helmets could have been Soviet (894 Russian Green or maybe darker, sometimes with Iraqui Sand splotches).

Gear could be grey green (987 Medium Gray and 886 Green Grey mix or combination of US Field Drab and English Uniform.

Boots-Black.

I won't swear to the accuracy of any of the colors, they were my best guess at the time.

[cuprum]