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

VIGNETTE 3
VISION IN THE BAR KOT VALLEY
by Doctor Mohammad Sadeq
It was December 1983. I left my village of Sotan in Dara-i Nur
Valley for the nearby valley of Bar Kot. I had five of my Mujahideen
with me. In Bar Kot Valley, we stopped at the village of
Dud-Reg where we spent the night in a Mujahideen guest house
(Map 8-3 - Vision). Dud-Reg is the last village in the valley before
the forest begins. In this area, the mountains are all heavily wooded
with pine, juniper and sycamore. It was foggy, rainy and very cold.
There were other Mujahideen from IRMA staying in the house next
door to ours. After supper, everyone but my sentry went to bed. I was
asleep and dreaming. In my dream, I saw a man in a white robe who
laid his hand on my shoulder and said "You will prevail." Then the
man dropped ammunition in my lap and gave' me an Enfield rifle.
"This is the time to go forward" the man said. I woke up and looked
around. I could not find any ammunition or Enfield rifle, but I
checked to make sure that my Kalashnikov and pistol were still
under my pillow as I was thinking about the dream.
At 0030 hours, I again awoke as I heard a shot fired. I scrambled
to my feet and asked the sentry what was going on. "Nothing, everything
is all right" Agha Gul replied. I lay back down. Shortly afterward,
I heard another shot. I jumped up, pulled on my shoes and
grabbed my weapons. The other Mujahideen were also up. I looked
outside. The sentry said "The Soviets are here. We are surrounded. I
see their signal rockets all around us." The other group of IRMA
Mujahideen rushed out into the night and up into the mountains. My
five Mujahideen asked me "What should we do?" I replied, "Well,
they've come for us, so let's give them a fight." The enemy had us
surrounded and had blocked all the exits by this time.
The house that we were in had a large, enclosed courtyard (60
meters x 60 meters). The enemy were firing at us and they knew
exactly where we were. I went to the back of the enclosure and
crawled over the wall into a narrow meter-wide alley. I asked my
Mujahideen to follow me. We moved down the alley and into the open
fields. I could see Soviets in the open field. I told my Mujahideen
Doctor Mohammad Sadeq was a commander with the HIH in Kunar Province. [Map sheet
3186, vic grid 4341].