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

VIGNETTE 5
AMBUSH ON THE JALALABAD-ASADABAD ROAD
by LTG Haji Mohammad Rahim
The Jalalabad-Asadabad road runs right by the mouth of the
Babur Valley (which we nicknamed Islamdara—the Valley of Islam).
I had my base in the valley with 150 Mujahideen, one 82mm recoilless
rifle, three DShK heavy machine guns, a Goryunov medium
machine gun, five RPG-7s, some Kalashnikovs and some Enfields. I
decided to set the ambush at the mouth of the valley. It was
December 1984. The area is perfect for an ambush (Map 6 - Babur).
The mouth of the valley allows a U-shaped ambush with a 1000meter
kill zone. The forested valley allows a quick escape into the
forested mountains. I positioned the DShK machine guns on the high
ground and put the five RPGs and the recoilless rifle close to the
road. I had three positions for my force—the bottom of Spereh Ghar
facing southwest, the valley floor and the ridge of Shunkolay Ghar
facing south and southeast. I put myself in the center in the valley
floor position where I could best control the ambush. I had good
fields of fire to both sides of the ambush site. The terrain is close and
prevented the enemy from massing fires against the ambush. The
river prevented the enemy from maneuvering effectively against the
site. The withdrawal routes are covered.
A supply convoy came from Jalalabad. We let part of it pass to
attack the middle of the convoy. When we opened fire, the enemy
was hit from three directions. We destroyed three armored vehicles
and one truck fully loaded with melons and other fruit and one truck
full of boxes of cash. Some enemy tried to flee, but were trapped by
the river which has many channels in this area. The money truck
caught on fire and some of the money was burned, but we took what
we could and later I made it a payday for everyone. I still have some
of those burnt notes and someday I will cash them in for some good
ones. The enemy tried to fight back and maneuver against us, but
he could not find any favorable positions. Eventually, enemy helicopter
gunships came and forced us out of position. Our concealed
withdrawal routes through the trees protected us from the gunships.
Sameh Jan Hejran from Chakdara was killed. He was a teacher. I
also had one WIA. The enemy losses are unknown since they evac-
LTC Haji Mohammad Rahim was an officer in the Afghan Army who became a Mujahideen
and led a group in Kunar Province. [Map sheet 3186, vie grid 7842].