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

VIGNETTE 4
ATTACK ON THE TSAWKEY SECURITY POSTS
by LTC Haji Mohammad Rahim
Tsawkey is a district of Kunar Province. The DRA established a
security post in the Tsawkey High School. This high school security
post provided protection for a section of the Jalalabad to Asadabad
highway. (Map 2-3 - Tsawkey) It was a usual practice of the DRA to
convert public buildings to such uses. I decided to capture this post in
October 1983. I had approximately 70 Mujahideen armed with two
82mm mortars, one DShK and some Enfield rifles. We planned our
battle in our base in the nearby Babur Gorge. Other Mujahideen
joined us from Dawagal. We would attack from three directions—from
the north (high ground), along the road from the northeast and from
the west. We moved from our base at night, deployed and attacked the
target. Our attack lasted 30 minutes. We overran the post but could
not hold it. We killed 11 DRA and captured one. We also captured a
ZGU-1, a DShK and some Kalashnikovs. We had three Mujahideen
KIA and one WIA. We could not hold the security post, so we left it.
There were two DRA security outposts near the Tsawkey District
headquarters. One was in the high school and the other was near the
bridge. We had a contact inside the second post who was a DRA officer—Musa
Khan. In June 1985, he helped us capture his security post.
I assembled 50 Mujahideen armed with an RPG-7, Kalashnikovs and
Enfields. We came during the night from our base in Babur Valley and
followed the road bank to the southwest. We approached the post at
dawn from the high ground to the north. Our contact led us inside.
Most of the soldiers were asleep and we wanted to capture them.
However, some of our Mujahideen were not very quiet and the detail
woke up and started fighting us. We killed seven of the security detail
and captured one. We also captured one PK medium machine gun, 12
Kalashnikovs and ammunition. The firing alerted the other enemy
unit in the Tsawkey high school. They sent a detachment to the outpost,
but I had posted a security element on the road. This security element
blocked the movement of the detachment and covered our withdrawal.
We all withdrew up to our base in the mountains. I had one
Mujahideen wounded.
LTC Haji Mohammad Rahim was an officer in the Afghan Army who became a Mujahideen
and led a group in Kunar Province. [Map sheet 3186, vic grid 7640].