If this refurbished German M35 helmet could talk

[Jack59]

While in the subject here are examples of the disk attached to the helmets, then.



The three letters are the initials of Afghan Melli-E Oudou (Afghan National Army).
From Joseba Revuelta: afganista m 16 austriaco

[BlackCat1982]

Nice relic JesperS. A helmet that has lived history several times over, please don't be tempted to do anything with it.

[sgb19]

the Afghan M40 style helmets were purchased in the late 50s for the Royal Guard and were probably (mainly?) West German made export shells (in some photos look like could be Quist shells). Earliest photos i have seen are from 1959 Eisenhower visit - Royal Guard still wore WW1 helmets during Khrushchevs visit in 1955, so they were introduced sometime between 1955-59. They continued use with the Presidential Guard after overthrow of the monarchy in 1973, but phased out by early 80s. Regular army units never used them.

Later in 90s they appear with the Presidential Guard of the shortlived Islamic State of Afghanistan, which repainted them and added white band with the takbir. This is what the helmet appear to be rather than Taliban. The bottom photo in post #2 show this unit in 90s, not 50s. At this time they also imported surplus BGS M53 helmets, which were mainly used in military academies and not repainted except addition of the takbir.