Mig-23 is a very nice plane. I like it from Childhood. Mig-23s also had skirmishes with PAF F-16s during the Soviet Afghan war. The Soviets also said that during that time, they shot an F-16 using their Mig-23s. The Soviet pilots used Mig-23MLD in shooting down that F-16 but PAF covered up the loss and said that they didn't lose any F-16s that day in any way and after that later Accepted that they lost an F-16 to Friendly fire
-{I am pretty sure that it was shot down by a Mig-23-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soviet Airforce used MiG-23s over Afghanistan, often being used to escort missions close to the borders of Pakistan and Iran, as the then in service MiG-21 lacked the necessary range to do so. You can compare the range of both the Aircrafts and you will understand.