Ali Ahmad Jalali

“ The noise of the wind and the dust concealedus as we moved between the enemy tanks. There were manyMujahideen in that cordon. There were Mujahideen from two districtsand other areas as well. About 2,000 Mujahideen escaped into thenight. The dust and wind also helped the civilians exfiltrate and cov-ered their escape. When we got out, the wind died down. Later on,people said that this was the hand of God that got them out. TheMujahideen went to the surrounding mountains. I went to Kohe MusaQaleh, the small mountain just north of Musa Qaleh. ”

“ The following year, in October 1984, the Soviets attackedIslamabad. They sent a major column from Girishk and again laidsiege to Musa Qaleh, while another moved further north and attackedIslamabad. There were few Mujahideen in the mountain base sincethe majority were in Musa Qaleh. The Soviets landed air assaulttroops on the high ground and attacked with the ground column to cap-ture the base after three day's fighting. They destroyed the base andleft it unusable due to all the mines that they left behind. ”

“ We lost 472Mujahideen KIA. Civilian deaths were much higher. I was in chargeof the hospital at that time and it was overflowing. During the fight-ing, Soviet tanks arrived from the east and were just 300 meters south.
Akhund Zada Qasem was a commander with Harakat-e Ingilab-i Islami (HAR) of MawlawiNabi Mohammadi. He was also in charge of medical support to the Musa Qaleh Front inHelmond Province. This was a major Mujahideen stronghold under the late MawlawiNasim Akhund Zada. Akhund Zada was one of the major Mujahideen regional comman-ders. ”

“ During the 12-15 days that the Soviets and DRAcordoned the area, they succeeded in entering many parts of the areaand clearing it. Many Mujahideen managed to escape, but the Sovietsand DRA arrested about 800 Mujahideen and civilians in the area. COMMENTARY: Coordination of fire and maneuver elements is a prob-lem for trained armies. It is a bigger problem for irregular forces. Inthis case, the Mujahideen fire support fell short of the target withdeadly results. ”

“ The governor of Parwan Province had his residence in the city ofCharikar. It was located next to the Numan High School. There wasalso a security post in an enclosed house next to the governor's resi-dence and the high school. ”

“ Coincidently, the enemy had planned a major cordon andsearch operation which began the next morning. Early the next morn-ing, the enemy moved through the area and cordoned it off with hun-dreds of tanks and APCs. They encircled hundreds of Mujahideen inthe Bagram, Kohistan and Charikar area. We were trapped in our position.
Commander Sarshar was a police officer in Parwan and worked clandestinely with theMujahideen: When his cover was about to be blown, he became a Mujahideen comman-der in Ghorband. He commanded a mobile grOup in the Ghorband front near Charikar. [Map sheet 2887] . ”