Mazar-i-Sharif is essentially an Uzbeki territory ( Not politically, but ethnically. I am not eager to get onto a s..t list of Taliban :-))
My question: are these "shashkas" in fact Uzbeki? Any examples from other areas in Afghanistan? Were they formally adopted by the Afghani military? Any examples of them ( not the so-called Bukharan sabers) in Uzbekistan proper? Say what we like, their bifurcated pommel has no analogy with any weapon of the area ( native or european), except for the Russian Cossack shashka. And those were in use only in Uzbekistan/Tajikistan and never in Afghanistan. They apparently appeared in the area in the second half of the 19th century, co-incidental ( or just after) the Russian invasion of the Central Asian emirates/khanates.
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