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

Page 214 The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
that everything was all right. However, when I was half way through
ablutions, 2
I noticed signal flares streaking across the cloudy sky.
They were coming from the northeast and southeast.
The night may have seemed quiet to my guards, but it was busy for
the Soviet raiding detachment. Led by local guides and informants,
the raiders had stealthily walked from Bagram to the village during
the snowfall and quietly occupied several buildings around the village.
By dawn, the enemy had taken up positions at Haji Satar, Rahim, Haji
Taleb, Raza Khan, Haji Rahmat Sayed and Amanullah forts. 3
As soon as I saw the flares, I asked the guards about it. They said
that they thought that the enemy was on the road to the village some
two kilometers away. I thought that the flares were much closer. I had
no time to gather all my men, so I took the 15 men who were staying
in my house and we tried to exfiltrate from the village. Shortly after
we left my house, I realized that I had forgotten my briefcase full of
data about my group. I sent my younger brother to fetch the briefcase
and ordered my men to move down the road to the mosque and then on
the Rahmat Said fort at the edge of the village. From there, we would
take the path to Mujahideen-held areas. I waited for my brother. A
few minutes later he joined me and we hurried after the group. We
caught up with the group as they approached the stream beyond the
mosque. The stream bed was full of Soviet soldiers in ambush. They
opened up on my group with AK-74s and killed three of my men on the
spot. The rest of my group disappeared in the dark and moved to the
southwest, where they were soon trapped in another ambush and
killed to the last man. An enemy tracer bullet had set my tsadar on
fire. My brother warned me that I was on fire. I pulled off my burning
tsadar and threw it away, but that attracted the attention of the
first ambush group who again opened up on us and killed my brother.
I had lost contact with my group and so I moved in the opposite direction
and slipped out through a house at the edge of the village. The
enemy had blocked all streets and escape routes and none of my
Mujahideen survived the raid. The enemy killed all 40 Mujahideen
and 15 civilians at different locations in the village.
COMMENTARY: Lack of effective security contributed decisively to the
Soviet success and led to the destruction of the resistance force.
Combat security should protect a unit from surprise attack and
2
Muslims pray five times a day and wash before prayers.
3
Many of the home in Afghanistan are surrounded by high, thick adobe walls and are actually small
forts.