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

VIGNETTE 9
RAID ON OUTPOSTS AT WRESHMIN GORGE
by Commander Wazir Gul
During October 1985, Mujahideen factions took turns blocking
the Kabul-Jalalabad highway at Wreshmin Tangay (gorge) between
Dabili and Dargo bridges (Map 2-8 - Wreshmin). My mission was to
block the highway for eight days. At that time, I commanded 70
Mujahideen. We were armed with five BM-ls, two BM-12s, four
82mm recoilless rifles, two ZGU-ls, three 82mm mortars and many
RPG-7s. In order to block the highway, I had to remove enemy security
posts along that stretch of road. I moved my force from Manay
in Hisarak to the Tsapar (Capar) mountain where I refined my
battle plan. Since there are limited access routes into the area and
since the area near the highway was heavily mined, I decided to
launch the initial attack against the flanks of the area we were going
to block, i.e. against the Dabili bridge in the west and the Dargo
bridge in the east. These two places are relatively accessible from
the mountains in the south. After destroying the road bridges at
these two points, I planned to isolate the area and continue the
attack down the highway against the security outposts. The highway
approach was best since the highway itself was not mined.
I divided my detachment into two groups and moved them to Dabili
and Dargo. I kept a reserve centrally located to the rear between the
two attacking groups. The two groups approached the target at night.
The next day, they captured the Dabili and Dargo bridges by swift
attacks. They immediately destroyed the bridges with explosives.
This isolated the area. Then, the two groups attacked down the road
(to avoid the DRA minefields) from the opposite directions. They eventually
overran 16-17 small Soviet/DRA security outposts located on the
road. Then they turned around to consolidate their success and reinforced
the defenses at the east and west flanks of the blockade.
During the next eight days, the Soviets and DRA tried to reopen the
highway, but failed. Their air strikes and artillery were generally ineffective
due to the narrowness of the canyon. The enemy sent a column
from Jalalabad to force the road, but we stopped them in the narrow
confines around Dargo bridge and they had to withdraw. We spent the
Commander Wazir Gul was affiliated with Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan (JIA) of Burhanuddin
Rabbani. His base was in Tezin southwest of Sarobi. He fought in the Sarobi, Lataband
and Mahipar areas. [Map sheets 2985, 2986, vie grid 7617 to 8317].