"Special Operations Forces recovered three Blowpipe missile systems in the vicinity of Asadabad yesterday (Monday)," Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul.

"The missiles were still in the original shipping containers and are in excellent condition," he said. Asadabad is in Kunar province bordering Pakistan.

It is not the first discovery of Blowpipe missiles in Afghanistan. US Special Forces discovered a stash in November 2002 near Bagram.

British-made Blowpipe missiles have a maximum range of four kilometresmiles) and maximum altitude of 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

They were used by the British in the Falklands war against Argentine fighters and helicopters.

However, their speed of 340 metres a second is less than half that of the US made FIM-92A Stinger, which was supplied to Afghan mujahedin groups fighting Soviet invaders in the 1980s. The US stinger also has a slightly greater range.

Davis did not provide any further details on the missile find.

A US-led coalition force of some 11,500 soldiers is hunting down remnants of the Taliban regime and their al-Qaeda allies in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

SPACE.WIRE