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

Page 230 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
air strikes. That day Commander Jailani was staying two villages
away at Mirza Qala, less than one kilometer to the east. His 14-yearold
son was alone in the house during the raid. The youngster was
wounded, but managed to escape.
The aerial preparation continued about 30 minutes without any
Mujahideen reaction or return fire. Four lift helicopters then set down
in some corn fields 200-300 meters west of the commander's house.
The corn stalks were about 20-30 centimeters high at the time. About
40 commandoes disembarked and immediately split into three groups.
Two 10-man groups secured the northern and southern flanks of the
village and a 20-man group stormed through the village to the house
only to find that it was empty. The commandoes, seized (stole) cash
and other valuables in the house and destroyed what they could not
take away. They searched several neighboring houses and found only
women and children. They detained two unarmed Mujahideen who
had buried their weapons. They were later released.
Several Mujahideen groups from the surrounding villages moved to
Badiabad to fight the Soviets, but none arrived on time. The Soviet
detachment withdrew unopposed and flew away in the helicopters that
brought it in. The entire action lasted about an hour.
COMMENTARY: Soviet intelligence as to the location of the commander's
house was good, probably reflecting the presence of an informer in the
area. However, the Soviets did not have current intelligence to pinpoint
when the commander would be in his house. This indicates that
they were relying on only one intelligence asset and should have directed
other assets to supplement their agent's reports. The resulting lack
of accurate, current intelligence resulted in a failed mission. On the
other hand, the guerrillas did not have an early warning system and
had not developed and rehearsed a plan or drills to counter a Soviethelicopter
raid. This lack may have saved the Soviet force.
The guerrillas' lack of an overall village security plan and slow
reaction time cost the resistance a good opportunity for inflicting heavy
losses on the raiding detachment. A good security plan would concentrate
on destroying the lift ships first and then fragmenting and
destroying the raiding detachment piecemeal.
Eyewitnesses say that Jailani had left an RPG-7 in his house. As
the Soviet gunships started strafing the village, he asked for a volunteer
to go to the village and retrieve the valuable weapon. He offered
40,000 Afghanis (about 100 dollars) as a reward. His 17-year-old
nephew, Ismail, volunteered, reached the embattled house and