Introduction: Even a wedding in Kabul does not pass by without a bloody fight recalling an imaginary insult.
With war in Afghanistan round the corner, one can’t help but recall the last war. The Russian forces had to beat a hasty retreat from this barren landscape which has been the graveyard of many mighty armies.
It is impossible to subdue the Afghans — they are matchless guerrilla fighters.
The Russian officers were desperate to go back home after the Soviet Union decided to pull out, leaving the Afghans free to decide their fate and settle old scores. The Russian troops which had suffered a large number of casualties found themselves helpless in dealing with an enemy which would appear without any warning from behind the mountains and disappear equally fast, much before the Russians could respond with their heavy guns or helicopter battle ships.
No part of the country was safe from the Mujahideen. Even the most expensive hotel in Kabul was no exception. Information would reach in advance about the Mujahideen’s guerrilla actions, including their literature. One had to travel a mere 20 minutes distance from the seat of government to reach the Mujahideen-controlled area. Surprisingly, the relations between the official Afghan soldiers and the Mujahideen were quite cordial.
The Kabul airport got its daily share of shelling from different directions. The Afghan fighters would shoot and scoot. The Afghan forces accepted these skirmishes as part of their daily life. This reporter flew into the airport during one such shooting practice. As soon as the plane had touched down, the passengers were told to leave and come to the airport next day for collecting their luggage. There were no taxies at the airport. So we had to walk, amid the shelling.
How precarious the Mujahideen hold was can be judged from the fact that before every flight landed at Kabul, helicopters were sent up to throw flares so that the Mujahideen present on the hills around the airport could not aim at the passenger plane. It was a keen contest — between 20th century Stinger missiles fired from over the shoulder and the World War II technology of throwing up flares to fool the missiles.
Afghanistan had by then become a country with the largest population of people who had lost their limbs in mine blasts. The busiest centre in Kabul was a hospital set up by India for artificial limbs.
As for tactics, the Russians tried every trick in their military books, but with little success. For instance, every night Scud missiles were fired to hit targets as far away as Kandahar, a distance of over 300 kilometres. This was done as routine, with little regard for accuracy and even less knowledge of the targets. The Afghan soldiers had also mined every inch of motorable road and mountain paths, but the Mujahideen were unaffected.
The Mujahideen convoys moved freely with goats and other animals acting as advance scouts to deal with the menace of mines which killed mostly innocent citizens. The Russian soldiers backed by their Afghan allies spent a lot of time behind double fences but the Mujahideen managed to hit them with a certainty that was unbelievable. The biggest problem for America will be that there are no targets to hit in Afghanistan.
Every part of the country has pale
mud houses where the Afghan tribes live; people for whom fighting for their
land, family and honour comes naturally. Even a wedding in Kabul does not
pass by without a bloody fight recalling an imaginary insult inflicted
in the distant past. Will the Afghans ever change?