IT’S RAMBO TO THE RESCUE . . . IN AFGHANISTAN

John Rambo--last seen walking bare-chested across Thailand--is headed for Afghanistan, where he’ll help unite moujahedeen tribesmen and lead them into battle, on horseback, against the Commies.

That’s what Sly Stallone told us, between takes on his current “Over the Top.”

Set to film in the fall for release next July 4th, with direction by Russell Mulcahy (“Highlander,” “Razorback”), “Rambo III” opens to find Our Hero at work in a Thai bronze foundry.

It’s his loyalty to his former commanding officer, Col. Trautman (Richard Crenna), that sends him to Afghanistan where Trautman has been abducted by Communist forces. (This after he’d visited the country with medical supplies. “It’s a little ambiguous,” said Stallone, “but maybe there were also weapons in some of those supply boxes.”)

So it’s Rambo to the rescue--after he forges himself a mighty Mediterranean-ish sword. (He’ll also take his special bow. “I spent so much time learning how to use it,” smiled Stallone.)

Stallone tabbed the film “ ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ across the plains of Afghanistan into the mouth of pain,” adding, “I think this one will have a rite of manhood kind of thing, where the tribesmen don’t accept Rambo unless he first does something to prove his bravery on horseback.”