Excerpt From The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War

By Ali Ahmad Jalali and Lester W. Grau

Vignette 9 from Chapter 14: Urban Combat

Raid on the Kabul Metropolitan Bus Transportation Auhority

By Commander Shahabuddin

Introduction

Commander Shahabuddin is from Shewaki Village south of Kabul.

Raid on the Kabul Metropolitan Bus Transportation Authority

The Kabul Metropolitan Bus Transportation Authority is located on the eastern side of the city and served as the central buss terminal for 130 buses. In October 1983, I assembled 120 Mujahideen for the raid at our base in Yakhdara. We had 16 RPG-7s, three mortars, three 82mm recoilless rifles and numerous small arms. I divided the force into three 20-man teams to attack the Bagrami Textile Company, the police station, and our main objective - the city bus transportation authority. Sixty men constituted the security element, which would secure our route of advance and withdrawal. A primary consideration of the urban guerrilla is always covering his route of retreat. We moved our force from our base and spread out into the surrounding villages. To preserve mission security, only my subcommanders knew the plan. Once we were in position, the commanders would brief their men and tell them what to do. The first group went to the textile mill. The second group, reinforced with an 82mm recoilless rifle, a mortar and some RPG-7s, set out to attack the police station at Kart-e Naw. I commanded the main attack against the bus authority. As we moved, we posted security elements outside all security outposts in the area. I sent one group of Mujahideen to the Eqbal cinema to attack the security outpost located there so that they would not interfere with our raid. As our Mujahideen were getting ready to attack the outpost, a roving jeep patrol came by. They destroyed the jeep with a rocket. The soldiers at the security outpost saw the burning jeep and ran away. The Mujahideen captured three Kalashnikovs at this site.

I led my group to the large enclosure of the bus transportation authority. When we got there, I posted a few guards to prevent anyone from surprising us. Then we attacked the security detachment at the bus park. We killed eight, captured two and torched 127 buses in the enclosure. Only three buses escaped destruction. We also captured 13-14 Kalashnikovs and 155 bayonets! We withdrew over our escape route to our base camp. Here, I learned that the group attacking the textile mill fired their mortar and heavy weapons and inflicted damage on the building. Kabul was without full bus transportation for a good while.

Author’s Commentary

The urban guerilla attacks the credibility of the government by chipping away at morale, attacking notable government targets and disrupting the daily life of the populace. The bus terminal was an optimum target since it clearly demonstrated the reach of the Mujahideen and slowed the life of the capital city considerably.

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