Word: mujahedin
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Barikot lies in a strategic valley in the mountains of Kunar province where two rivers, the Nuristan and the Chitral, meet to form the Kunar. Nearby are several important mujahedin supply routes, leading from the Pakistan border to Nuristan, the Panjshir valley and northern Afghanistan. Last summer, when Barikot was in danger of falling, the Soviets mounted one of their biggest operations of the war in order to save it. Supported by scores of MiGs and other jets, and Mi-24 helicopters, some 10,000 troops managed to fight their way through to Barikot, but after a few days...
Today the Soviets are back where they started. Barikot is once again under a tightening siege. The road south toward Jalalabad has been cut again, and all supplies have to be airlifted in. By contrast, the guerrilla supply lines are largely open, and the mujahedin are now talking about taking Barikot before the year is over...
...another day dawns in Barikot, the mujahedin resume their attacks, firing at Soviet observation posts and mortar positions across the valley. Soon the enemy is sending a counterbarrage. The mortar rounds fall with an ugly, twisted whistle, and their explosions rattle the whole ridgeline. As one or two rounds land dangerously close, the rebels hurry to take cover...
...shelling intensifies and grows more accurate, however, the mujahedin who are not part of the gun crews decide to move to safer ground. They scamper west along the ridge, then start down the long, steep slopes, moving fast. One guerrilla is missing a foot, blown off by an antipersonnel mine a year ago. He moves as fast as the others, hopping nimbly with the aid of a walking stick...
Next morning four MiGs attack the BM-13 and Oerlikon positions, dropping their tons of high explosives and vanishing as quickly as they appeared. The bombs miss by a wide margin. Less than an hour later mujahedin rockets are once again falling on Barikot. The war goes...