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

Page 44 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
brought from Shindand. Shindand was supplied with gasoline from
a Soviet-built field pipeline.
Saranwal Abdul Wali of NIFA and I coordinated the Mujahideen
plan. We planned to position several interconnected ambushes,
manned by small groups of Mujahideen, to surprise and take the
entire length of the column under simultaneous fire. This required
selection of a favorable stretch of the road that could accommodate
all the ambushes required to attack the entire column. We selected a
stretch of nearly seven kilometers between a point at the end of
Sanjari (the beginning of Ashoqa villages) and a point immediately to
the east of Pashmol as the killing zone for the enemy column. We estimated
that this stretch of the highway corresponded to the length of
the enemy column.
We decided to divide the 250 available Mujahideen into several
groups. The groups were armed with RPG-7 antitank grenade launchers
and four-to-five 82mm recoilless rifles. All ambushes were sited in
the green zone to the south of the road. Each ambush group had an
assigned sector of the kill zone. All groups were instructed to open fire
simultaneously as the head of the column reaches the Ashoqa villages.
It was expected that at that time the tail of the column would have just
cleared the Pashmol villages.
At that time, most of the local population still lived in their homes
along the road. Few had migrated to Pakistan since no major Soviet
military actions had taken place there. The Mujahideen groups coming
from Malajat (the southern and southwestern suburbs of Kandahar)
and other neighboring bases moved during the night to their designated
ambush sites. The ambush plan was kept secret from the local
population and local Mujahideen units since resistance groups based
in the ambush area were reluctant to participate, fearing retaliation
directed at their homes and families still living there.
The ambush groups moved into position during the night and
deployed patrols to secure the area. As the day began and locals
started moving around, Mujahideen patrols temporarily detained
the villagers to ensure secrecy. The Soviet convoy reached the kill
zone at 0900 hours. As instructed, the Mujahideen groups opened
fire simultaneously, surprising the enemy. The column stopped and
many vehicles began moving north onto the open plain. The escorting
tanks and APCs fired randomly in panic from on the road
without trying to maneuver or close with the ambush sites. Enemy
vehicles moving north off the highway soon were out of range of
many of the Mujahideen weapons.