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

VIGNETTE 1
SOVIET HELIBORNE RAID ACHIEVES SURPRISE
by Doctor Abdul Qudus Alkozai and Commander Haji Sidiqullah
In the mid 1980s, Mujahideen forces based in Alingar District of
the Laghman Province intensified their attacks on Soviet/DRA
columns moving between Alingar and the provincial capital of Mehtar
Lam. Mujahideen action included harassing supply columns, blocking
traffic and launching raids on security outposts protecting government
establishments. These actions were usually conducted by local resistance
groups of 30 to 70 men. Most were affiliated with the Hezb-e
Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (HIH).
Mujahideen commanders dispersed their men, weapons and equipment
in the villages and hideouts and sometimes even buried their
weapons between actions. However, rarely a day would pass in the
region without some combat initiated by the Mujahideen or the DRA
forces. In response, the Soviet/DRA forces targeted suspected bases or
houses (permanent residences or headquarters) of major Mujahideen
commanders in the area. Most of the raids were conducted by ground
troops. However, after 1984, Soviet special forces launched several
heli-borne raids on Mujahideen targets in the region. Their action at
Badiabad Village was one of these.
In the summer of 1985, a Soviet heli-borne detachment raided the
house of a local Mujahideen commander, Mamur Ghulam Jailani, in
the village of Badiabad. The village is located about 15 kilometers
northeast of Mehtar Lam on the main road connecting the provincial
capital with the Alingar District (Map 9-1 - Badiabad). Commander
Jailani commanded 150 Mujahideen located in and around Badiabad.
His group was armed with automatic rifles, RPG-7 grenade launchers
and a few heavy , and light machine guns.
The Soviet raid began around 0900 hours with successive gun runs
by pairs of helicopter gunships. Continual heavy helicopter rocket and
machine gun raked the village and gave the villagers little opportunity
to move into the surrounding hills—a standard practice by women
and children to escape the ground force attacks that usually followed
Haji Sidiqullah was the Provincial Military Commander of the HIH party in Laghman. He
joined Hekmatyar in the fight against Daoud--before the communist revolution. He had no
formal military education. Dr. Abdul Qudus was a guerrilla commander under Sidiqullah.
He doubled as the force medic, since he received medic's training in Pakistan. [Map sheet
3086, vic grid 1745].