Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War - Bennett Park Raiders

VIGNETTE 5
RAID ON PUL-E CHARKHI RADIO TRANSMITTER STATION
by Major Sher Aqa Kochay and others
In June 1984, Provincial NIFA leader Wali Khan issued orders to
Major Sher Aqa Kochay, the commander of a NIFA base in Sewak
(about 20 kilometers southeast of Kabul). Major Aqa would join two
other regional commanders—Haji Hussein Jan of Narey Oba and
Sayed Hasan Khan of Khak-e Jabar—in a raid on a radio transmitter
station. The transmitter was located near Pul-e Charkhi (20 kilometers
east of Kabul city) and the raid would take place on the night of
26 June. The Soviet-backed Afghan government was expanding the
transmitter facility which would reach wider audiences inside and outside
the country. The station used local broadcasts as well as programs
produced in the Soviet Union. 3
The transmitter station was located in Pul-e Charkhi near a military
complex which included the DRA 15th Tank Brigade, DRA 10th
field Engineer Regiment and some other units, (see Map 16a - Qafus 1,
Chapter 1 and Map 2-4 - Pul-e Charkhi.) Further to the east, between
Butkhak and Sarobi, a government-paid militia force patrolled the
area and protected the power lines and pylons that supplied electricity
from Naghlo Dam through Sarobi to Kabul. The militia was recruited
from the local tribe of the Karokhel clan of Ahmadzai Pushtuns.
Their chief was Hasan Khan Karokhel. On the surface, Hasan Khan
was a government supporter. But he was actually a major Mujahideen
collaborator. He provided the Mujahideen with logistic support, sheltered
their resistance fighters and even provided medical care to
Mujahideen wounded at regime medical institutions. 4
Principally based on an interview with Major Sher Aqa Kochay in Peshawar on September
14, 1996. Other sources include NIFA documents about the battle, Ali Jalali's discussions
with Hasan Khan Karokhel in 1986 in Peshawar, his interviews with the late Wali Khan
Karokhel (NIFA's provincial military commander of Kabul) in Peshawar and Islamabad in
1984 and 1986 and interviews with General Abdul Rahim Wardak. [Map sheet 2886, vie
grid 3221].
^ The Soviet Union and their clients in Kabul were also engaged in jamming international
broadcasts beamed to Afghanistan. Afghans considered such broadcasts the only source
of objective and uncensored news to the country. The jamming was done at other sites.
4 In fact NIFA's provincial commander, Wali Khan Karokhel, was the brother of Hasan
Khan Karokhel. Hasan Khan Karokhel had his headquarters in Mulla Omar, the ancestral
home of the Karokhel chiefs.