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

CHAPTER 9
FIGHTING HELIBORNE INSERTIONS
Soviet technology often had minimal impact on the Mujahideen
guerrilla. Many Mujahideen tactics were virtually unchanged and
still effective from their combat with Great Britain in the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Soviet high-performance aviation
posed a direct threat to the civilian populace of Afghanistan, but the
Mujahideen learned how to avoid or misdirect high-performance
aircraft. However, the Soviet transport helicopter and helicopter
gunship proved to be major concerns to the Mujahideen. Helicopters,
and later the SU-25 close air support aircraft, were potent systems in
the Soviet arsenal that the Mujahideen respected and feared. Soviet
transports could land raiding parties deep in Mujahideen areas while
gunships and close support aircraft could attack any opposition.
Throughout the war, the Mujahideen had difficulty countering heliborne
insertions, but they did learn that planning, drills and air
defense ambushes could help alleviate the heliborne threat.