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

VIGNETTE 1
RAID ON THE TOTUMDARA SECURITY POST
by Commander Sarshar
The Soviets had a series of security posts protecting the Salang-
Kabul highway. They had one at Totumdara which is eight kilometers
north of Charikar 1
(Map 2-1 - Totumdara). This post had five armored
vehicles. We mounted a raid on the security post in September 1981.
My base was in Ghorband Canyon. I had 60 Mujahideen armed with
four Goryunov heavy machine guns, two PK medium machine guns,
four RPG-7s, and Kalashnikov rifles. The area around my base is very
mountainous, but also heavily patrolled, so we had to move at night.
We moved from our base over the mountain pass to our staging area at
Ofian-e Sharif. Ofian-e Sharif is about three kilometers south of our
target and it took us six hours to reach it from Ghorband. We had to
carry all our equipment on our backs.
We stayed in Ofian-e Sharif during the day and rested and made
our plan. That night we crossed over to the east into the green zone
and moved into the villages near the target. I positioned 40 of my
Mujahideen to secure our route back into the mountains and to help
carry the gear. The other 20 were my raiding party. I divided these
20 men into a 10-man group for immediate security and a 10-man
assault group. The assault group had two Goryunov heavy machine
guns, two PK medium machine guns, two RPG-7s and some
Kalashnikovs. We attacked the post that same night. We destroyed
two tanks with our RPGs and terrified their infantry with our
Goryunovs. However, the security post was heavily protected by
mines so we could not cross the mine fields to get into the post. The
Soviet security post at Pul-e Matak and the Project security post
(named after the Chinese irrigation project) were on the Totumdara
security post flanks. Both of these posts opened fire on us and we
Commander Sarshar was a police officer in Parwan who worked clandestinely with the
Mujahideen. When his cover was about to be blown, he became a Mujahideen commander
in Ghorband. He commanded a mobile group in the Ghorband front near Charikar.
[Map sheet 2887, vie grid 1680].
1 This was part of the Soviet 108th Motorized Rifle Division area of responsibility. At this
time, the division's 285th Tank Regiment was stationed in Charikar while the 177th
Motorized Rifle Regiment was stationed 13 kilometers north at Jabulassarai. The outpost
belonged to one of these two regiments.