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

Page 168 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
Satakandow pass approach. Two kilometers to the west of the
Satakandow pass is the Khadai pass—a secondary pass with a dirt
trail going through it. We reinforced the defenses here as well.
Ismail commanded the Khadai pass approach (Map 6-5 - Magistral).
Most of the Mujahideen in this area were local men who were
defending their own villages. Unlike other parts of Afghanistan, the
people still lived here and had not been driven out to the refugee
camps in Pakistan. The majority of the people in the area belonged
to the Zadran tribe, but other tribes and different factions were also
involved. The decision to prepare and the decision to fight was not
made by the factions, but by the tribal council. This was to be fight
for homes and neighborhoods. Our local major commanders were
Mawlawi Neza-muddin Haqani, Mula Ibrahim, Mula Abdurrahman,
Captain Khan Zamak, Izat Khan, Ghaday, Dool Khan, Ghanamkay,
Sadat, Hakem, Jung, Dr. Khiali, Badshah and Alef.
We focused our efforts on the main road where it runs through
the Satakandow pass. There is another road some seven kilometers
to the east which goes through the Saroti pass and joins the main
highway at Lakatega 4
—some 25 kilometers to the south of the
Satakandow pass. This is a poor road which passes through the Dari
Khel tribe. 5
We did not expect that the Soviets would want to move
vehicles along this road, so we did not mine it. However, we did reinforce
the local Mujahideen in this area. Each tribe sent harbakai to
help and we sent about 300 harbakai as reinforcements to the Saroti
pass in the Dari Khel area. Commander Badshah commanded the
Saroti approach.
The Soviets established forward bases at Dara and Zawa. They
deployed their artillery in Division Artillery Groups (DAGs) near
Dara and deployed their Army Artillery Group further back south of
Gardez. They moved a maneuver force to Zawa. Suddenly, they
launched an attack from Zawa toward Saroti. We were completely
taken by surprise. In four to five days of fighting, the Soviets pushed
us back on the Saroti approach. Commander Badshah was killed in
this fighting. Qader Shah took over command and fought a stubborn
withdrawal back through the Saroti pass (Map 6-6 - Phase 1).
Once the Soviets captured the Saroti pass, they launched air
assault landings on the high ground located between the main road
and the road through the Saroti pass. They now held key terrain
4
Lakatega means erected stone.
5
The Dari Khel tribe is a subdivision of the Zadran tribe. The Dari Khel have a well
deserved reputation as a very military and warlike people.