Hassan said soldiers sometimes shared their food with the children in her family, but the relief was limited. She and the other adults began skipping meals, sometimes for two days straight, so the children could eat. Tree leaves boiled in water and sprinkled with spices became a part of their diet.
“We tried to avoid picking the leaves from poisonous trees,” she said. “We only used the mango, lemon and guava leaves. The children would eat them. They couldn’t say no because they were so hungry.”
Way #1: Cold War-era supply to dictators who weren’t aligned with the Soviets hasn’t run out yet.
Way #2: Cold War-era surplus sold off en masse in the 90s.
Way #3: Western supplies for ‘anti-terrorist’ states and the proliferation that results from corruption within those countries.
Yep, it’s nothing nefarious, exactly. You make and sell a rifle in 1972, it may well still be in operation in 2072, and obviously it will have changed hands a few times.
This is also why the US won’t send or gift most people MANPADs anymore. They’re still stinging (ba-dum-tss) from all the ones the Taliban fired right back at them.