[1] After the Saur Revolution, a violent Marxist–Leninist coup orchestrated by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan in 1978, the brigade remained as part of the army.

Both the patch and the cap badge featured the iconography of a sword going through a horse shoe, surrounded by golden wheat, making the Presidential Guard distinct from servicemen in other branches.

The name was later changed to the Afghan National Guard, or Gard-e-Mili, which consisted of the 88th Heavy Artillery Regiment and 1st Motorized Infantry Brigade, both of which also fought in Jalalabad.

[12] However, this is disputed, as Conroy states that the 37th and 38th Commando Battalion did not join the National Guard, but rather maintaining their independence and were sent to Bala Hissar Fortress.

[13] In 2005, Afghan Interior Minister Yousuf Stanizai issued a statement that a burial site had been found in the province of Paktia, containing the bodies of 530 soldiers from the DRA army who were executed after surrendering to Mujahideen forces in the area.

[15][16] According to the province's governor at the time, the burial sites contained soldiers of the Afghan Army's 9th Brigade, identified by the remains of their military uniforms.

An Afghan paratrooper interviewed at the site of the massacre claimed that 264 people died in the killings perpetrated by Jamiat-e Islami altogether.

[20] The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan included:[21][22] However, it is reported that KhAD-i-Nezami was the military intelligence branch of the Afghan Army, separate from KhAD.

In comparison to the Afghan Army, these civil defense detachments were equipped with older WW II-era surplus weapons, especially during the early part of the war, such as the PPSh-41.

Prominent Arab mujahideen figures include Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, who was potentially assassinated by KhAD.

Source:[42] By 1985, the structure of the irregular forces had changed to include self-defense groups formed at enterprises:[43] As General S. M. Mikhailov noted, by 1989, the Afghan army was at a fairly high level of combat capability in terms of military training of personnel, equipment, and weapons.

[45]Under the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, weapons deliveries by the Soviets increased and included Mi-24 helicopters, MiG-21 fighter aircraft, ZSU-23-4 Shilka and ZSU-57-2 anti-aircraft self-propelled mounts, MT-LB armored personnel carriers, BM-27 Uragan and BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket systems and 9K52 Luna-M and Scud missile launchers.

[52][53] Equipment:[22] There is no exact information about the number of armed formations of Sarandoy (brigades, regiments and separate battalions) in the last year of the existence of the Republic of Afghanistan.

[55] In the early 1980s, civilian self-defense forces were equipped with older PPSh-41 submachine guns, which were phased out for more modern rifles closer to the regime's end.

For example, in February 1986, the tribal militia battalion under the command of Usman-bek from Kakis-nau, which provided protection for the Sarok-Kalas-nau road in the province of Herat, had 300 fighters.

[58] Additionally, the Ministry of Defense had its own annual publication (in both Pashto and Dari) titled “دا اردو مجله” (The Military Magazine, also referred to as “De Revue Militaire” in French), which began in 1939 under the Kingdom of Afghanistan.