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

VIGNETTE 5
STORMING GULA'l
by Haji Malangyar
The Nangrahar agricultural/irrigation project was located in
Shinwar District, Nangrahar Province southeast of Jalalabad. The
massive irrigation project was built with Soviet help and guarded
by several DRA military garrisons. (No Map) A battalion and some
militia units protected the irrigation system. The battalion was garrisoned
at the main water pump some 1.5 kilometers north of Gula'i.
Gula'i is three kilometers northwest of Ghanikhel. A canal runs parallel
to the main road north of Ghanikhel and a militia unit guarded
a bridge on this road. Another battalion protected a bridge further
to the northwest.
Our base at Marochina, was seven kilometers west of Gula'i.
There were no people left in Gula'i since everyone had migrated. I
had 59 Mujahideen armed with an 82mm mortar and 12 RPG-7s.
The 8th of July 1985 was the last day of fasting in Ramadan. The
next day would be the Feast of Ramadan (Eid-al-Fitr). We felt that
many DRA soldiers would celebrate the festival at home making
this a good time to attack. As was our custom, we prayed to God
and put the Koran inside the cloth tsadar. We held the tsadar high
and had every Mujahideen pass under it to ask God's blessing on
us. We walked to Gula'i and spent the night of July 8th in an abandoned
house. I selected four groups of eight-to-ten men each to
divert and contain the outposts at the Narai Pul bridge, the Aozhda
Ghundai hill, Smats hill, and the Spin Khwar syphon. I had radio
communication with all groups. I commanded the 19 men in the
main attack. Each containment group had two RPGs and the main
attack group had four RPGs. I positioned our mortar near the
Congregation Mosque (Eidgah). I started the attack at 1600 hours
and three hours later we overran the government post in Gula'i. The
containment groups prevented any assistance to the post. After
dark, we all gathered at the designated assembly area. We had two
WIA. The enemy lost three KIA and two POWs. We also captured
11 Kalashnikovs, 100 boxes of badly needed ammunition and some
hand grenades.
Haji Malangyar fought in the heavily contested Shinwar District. There is no map with this
vignette. [Map sheet 3185, vic grid 7910].