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

Page 82 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
According to the plan, Mujahideen from the three bases would
assemble at Mulla Omar for final instructions prior to the raid. By the
afternoon of 26 June, all three groups were in Mulla Omar. Major Sher
Aqa and Haji Hussein Jan had each brought 30 men from their bases
in Sewak and Narey Oba. Sayed Hasan Khan came with a 50-man
unit from Khak-e Jabar.
Wali Khan Karokhel issued the final instructions. Major Sher Aqa
was appointed the overall commander of the raiding group. He divided
his force into four teams. A 20-man assault team, commanded by Haji
Hussein Jan, carried automatic rifles, light machine guns and RPG-7
antitank grenade launchers. Their mission was to attack the transmitter
from the southwest, destroy the facility and then withdraw
under the cover of the support group.
Major Sher Aqa's 20-man support team would cover the assault
team from positions in a ditch immediately to the east of the target.
The group had one 82mm mortar, a single barrel 107mm rocket
launcher (BM-1), a PK medium machine gun, a few RPG-7s and AK-47
assault rifles. Major Sher Aqa decided to stay with this team since it
would be the last to pull-out.
Sayed Hasan Khan commanded a 25 to 30-man containment team.
They were armed with small arms and RPG-7s. They would block the
Pul-e Charkhi-Butkhak road on the east bank of Kabul River and prevent
the enemy forces from reaching the target. The rest of the
Mujahideen were assigned as supply and evacuation elements to help
the other groups.
Major Aqa decided to launch the assault at midnight. Since it is
Hasan Khan later cooperated with the Mujahideen in a major action in 1984. He sheltered,
guided and supported a NIFA force which blew up all the electric pylons between
Butkhak and Sarobi. This cut off electrical power to Kabul for a long time. "Operation
Black-out" marked the end of Hasan Khan's service as the head of the government militia
and he, along with his family and 400 followers, migrated to Pakistan and continued his
struggle against the Soviet-backed regime from there. Hazhir Teimourian reported on this
in The Times of London on 31 August 1984.
Wali Khan, Hasan Khan's brother, remained NIFA's provincial leader in Kabul until
1986. Afterwards, he acted independently mostly in the anti Communist political movement
outside the country. After the Soviet withdrawal, he joined the Council of Solidarity
and Understanding-a movement of Afghan intellectuals campaigning for creation of a
moderate government in Afghanistan. The movement, and particularly Wali Khan Karokhel,
supported the restoration of the former King of Afghanistan as a person who would serve
as a symbol of unity among the fractionalized Afghan Resistance. Wali Khan was assassinated
in 1994 on the road between Peshawar and Islamabad by yet unidentified gunmen.
Some speculation points to his political enemies among the extremist Islamic groups as the
perpetrators of the murder.