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

VIGNETTE 6
QALA-E NAW BASE CAMP DEFENSE
by Mawlawi Mohayddin Baloch
Nimroz Province lies in the southwest corner of Afghanistan. It is
fairly flat, lightly populated and mostly desert. The population lives
in the green zones along the river banks. The Khash Rud is one of
three rivers which run through the province. It runs northeast to
southwest. My base was 10 kilometers southwest of the Lowkhai
District capital in Khash Rud District. (Map 11-9 - Khash) It is a
wooded area at the village of Qala-e Naw near the banks of the Khash
Rud River. Highway 606 runs from Delaram and Zaranj—the provincial
capital. It parallels the river and used to run through the
green zone. We would often block the highway and intercept convoys
traveling on it. Sometimes we would attack the provincial capital. I
had about 200 men in my main base at Qala-e Naw and had a forward
base at the Pul-e Ghurghori bridge, where the highway crossed
over the Khash Rud. I often mined and destroyed that bridge to deny
passage to columns going to Zaranj. My main base on the river was
split between the southeastern and northwestern banks. During
flood stage, it was impossible to cross the river and the Mujahideen
on each bank fought in different regions throughout the year. Later
in the mid-1980s, when our resistance became very costly to the
enemy, they built a detour route on the plain between Zaranj and
Delaram. This detour arched about nine kilometers away from my
base. When the detour route was built, I could only field reduced
groups of 15-20 men against small enemy columns since the area is
very arid, very open and water supply is a major problem. We had to
let the big convoys pass unmolested. The new road rejoins the old at
the village of Radzay. This is about 17 kilometers to the southwest.
I started moving our ambushes to the Radzay area. There is a mountain
to the east of Radzay with the same name. The road crosses
behind the mountain on the southeast side. This is an excellent
ambush site since there are also hills which restrict movement to the
road as it goes between the hills and the mountain.
Mawlawi Mohayddin Baloch is from Nimroz Province. His base was at Lowkhai, the district
capital of Khash Rud District on the Khash Rud River. He was initially with Mawlawi
Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi of the Harakat-e Inqelab-e Islami (HAR). Later on he
switched to HIK (Khalis). [Map sheet 1579 and 1580].