The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen ... - Tribal Analysis Center

VIGNETTE 1
TAKING ALINGAR DISTRICT CAPITAL
by Nawaz Khan, Doctor Abdul Qudus Alkozai and Haji M. Siddiqullah
In July of 1980, the subdistrict capital of Nengrach was collocated
with the Alingar District Capital in the town of Alingar. This is
because the Mujahideen had driven the government out of the mountain
redoubt of Nengrach. The district government of Nuristan was
also there. This was a common practice. The DRA maintained many
"governments in exile" for areas they did not control and held "nationwide"
congresses using emigrants to represent those uncontrolled
areas. The DRA never controlled more than 15% of the countryside.
We decided to eliminate all these governments by seizing Alingar town.
It proved to be a major victory.
The DRA 81st Regiment had a battalion in Alingar and there were
some DRA militia forces as well.' (Map 4-1 - Alingar 2) We had two
contacts in the DRA garrison. One was Captain Yar Mohammad who
had a brother in our Mujahideen group. Captain Mohammad was from
nearby Koh-e Safi and routinely provided us information about government
plans. We talked to the Captain about capturing Alingar and
he agreed to help us. We introduced the Captain to our other contact,
Piroz. Piroz was a cook in the DRA garrison. We gave drugs to Piroz.
The Captain and Piroz agreed that Piroz would drug the food before
our attack and that the captain would signal us when that was done
and we could launch our attack. We asked the cook how many
Mujahideen we should bring. "Not too many to cause trouble, but not
too few to fail" he replied. "Okay, about 70,000" we joked. "No, only
about 10,000" he joked back. In any case, the Mujahideen sympathizers
in the DRA camp would kill the communist officers. The signal to
attack was the firing of a magazine full of tracer ammunition.
Nawaz Khan was a cadet in the Afghanistan Military Academy when he joined the resistance.
He was a Mujahideen commander in Mehtar Lam, the Provincial Capital of
Laghman Province. Haji Sidiqullah was the Provincial Military Commander of the HIH faction
in Laghman. He joined HIH in the fight against Dauod before the communist revolution.
Dr. Qudus was a commander under Sidiqullah who doubled as the force medic. [Map
sheet 3086, vic grid 2455].
1 According to Soviet sources, the DRA 71st Infantry Regiment was garrisoned in Mehtar
Lam with some forces in the Alingar area. The 81st Mechanized Infantry Regiment was
stationed further to the south in Nangrahar Province. General Alexandr Mayorov, Pravda
ob Afganskoy voyne [Truth about the war in Afghanistan], Moscow: Prava Chiloveka, 1996,
Map set.