The Figures
Most of these are modern Afghans from The Assault Group with some heavy weapons from Mongrel Miniatures.
I've stuck to a company in crossfire turns, albeit quite a formidable one. There are three platoons each of three infantry stands (3 dice each), an RPG stand (3 dice and anti armour capability) and a leader (+1). Each platoon can have a heavy weapon attached, I have two HMG and a recoilless rifle (4 dice each, the RR has an artillery effect also).
There is a large headquarters group consisting of a mounted company commander and his aide and several personality figures to act as leaders or objectives for the enemy. I have three Saddam Hussain figures, two are fighting and one is captured, and an Osama Bin Laden figure. There's also a Mullah with a Koran to inspire jihad fervour in the troops. To support these individuals I have two infantry stands and two RPG stands.
At a later date I may give them some captured Russian armour. I plan to buy some crews to add to my Somali technicals so they can be used as Afghan vehicles.
These guys will be fighting my Modern British and possibly some Russians.

Here is the first group of Afghans, my test pieces. I have another group like this to do in similar colours and a larger Taliban group that will be different with black turbans.

​I chose six main colours for this group and just repeated them for the different clothing items. I used a dark blue (Foundry 65 french Blue) but I will substitute this for a different light brown or tan for the next group as it's a poor colour, doesn't cover well and the highlights don't show up.
The colours I used were all triads; Foundry 12 drab, 21 Sky blue and 57 Stone and Coat D'arms Faded Khaki, Dark Brown and White. I used Coat D'arms Black for the guns and beards and my usual Foundry 13 Spearshaft for the wooden bits. all very quick, two days from start to finish, and a pleasing palette. The flesh was Foundry 5 Flesh but I just used the shade and mid tone with a Games Workshop Chestnut Wash (old version) over the basecoat.
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Here are some more WIP shots. I've had a bit of a reorganisation and opted for two Taliban platoons instead of one because there were two excellent leader figures and I didn't want to demote one to a normal grunt. Each will have two infantry bases with two support bases; one will have two RPG stands and the other will get an RPG and the heavy machine gun.

I'm still managing to knock out a complete group (12 figures) every two days with a rest day in between where I prepare the next group and paint some other stuff (yesterday I painted four pack donkeys so these guys don't have to carry all their gear on their own).

Here are the Taliban support elements just started.

And finished (except for the machine gun base with its casualty).

Hiding out in a foreign land; Saddam, his decoy double and an inevitable captured version. (You can just see Osama and his double in the background.)

Mounted and foot command stands. Two Osamas, a Mullah and a Mad Bomber. The bomber is from Reaper. This is everything except a group of four Taliban which I need to do because I changed my mind on the organisation.

Here's the whole force. I didn't paint the Mongrel Miniatures heavy weapons but I did get more TAG figures. I may still use the Mongrel figures as technical crews but I'm undecided. if the Afghans prove to be majorly outgunned I'll probably end up using them.

Everyone based.

Painted Figures
Here is the whole Afghan force. It's made up of elements of Taliban and elements of less well trained locals. The locals are organised into groups of three infantry bases (3 dice each) and a single support base with rockets (4 dice, anti armour capability). Their leaders are +1.

Here are the two groups of locals:

The Taliban are better trained. They have two infantry bases (4 dice) and two support bases (4 dice, anti armour capability). Their commanders are +2. The Taliban also have a machine gun (4 dice).

There are two overall command stands which count as +2 Company Commanders. I can choose which to use or have both if the force is split. They're pictured here with some donkeys from Hinchliffe.

​Finally there are the special figures. I have a mad bomber from Reaper to act as a one shot explosion, a Mullah to aid morale and Osama himsef to really give the boys some encouragement. Osama has a double so the Coalition forces can't target him too easily. Lastly, for a 'what if?' scenario, I have Saddam in case he fled abroad, his double and a captured version in case of a rescue attempt after he's been found.

One of the ubiquitous features of modern urban battlefields are packs of dogs that roam about scavenging for food, getting in the way, alerting sentries to the presence of raiders and sometimes even feasting on the corpses of the fallen. These dogs are from Gripping Beast. I've put them here just because, they'll be used in all my modern settings and probably all the near future ones as well.

Another hazard of modern Afghanistan are mines, either laid by the Taliban or left over from the Russian occupation.
I got these resin markers to denote mined areas from Dark Art Miniatures.

I found some very useful advice from someone who knows when I was researching my Afghan painting. I present it here in case someone else finds it useful.

The shirt/trouser combination (shalwar kameez or pirhan tonban, depending on which local language you're after) should always, always match. They're worn (and sold) as a combined set). The Taliban were often known for their black turban silks. 

"A look at the clothing of the fighters gives a good indication of the identity of the fighters, an expert on al Qaeda told The Long War Journal. The length of the pants of pictured fighters is described as being at "al Qaeda height" -- meaning only al Qaeda and allied "Wahhabi/Salafi-jihadis" wear their pant legs this high"

"The extremists who follow al Qaeda's religious beliefs think that pants must be at least six inches above the ground because there's a hadith [a saying of the Prophet Mohammed] that says clothes that touch the ground are a sign of pride and vanity," the expert said. "This, along with the new dyeing of men's beards red or yellow is a sure sign of al Qaeda-ization."

The type of masks worn and the tennis shoes are also strong indicators that these fighters "are non-Afghan fighters," an expert on the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan said. "Those types of masks I have seen, and they are always on the Pakistani side of the border," the expert said. "The tennis shoes and socks are a big indicator that they are non-Afghan fighters, probably Pakistanis or Arab/Central Asian fighters."