Word: mujahedine
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...mujahedin will need all their reserves next spring, when the end of winter will signal the final push on Kabul. Massoud told TIME he intends to cut off major highways into the capital, then take on outlying garrisons. At the same time, he plans to launch a campaign of disruption inside Kabul in an effort to spark a popular uprising as food grows scarce. "We have put considerable effort into organizing the resistance inside the cities," he explains, "and we now have an extensive underground network." In the meantime, Jamiat and other resistance groups are keeping up the pressure...
After nine years of fighting, mujahedin can drive their few vehicles through the valley in daylight with little worry of attack. The government withdrawal from the Panjshir has prompted hopes in Kabul that Massoud might be coaxed into a cease-fire or even a coalition. According to Massoud, President Najibullah has even offered him a choice of top government posts in exchange for peace...
...house for more than a few hours, Massoud lives in constant motion. Several assassination attempts by government agents and Soviet commandos have forced him to behave like a hunted man. Beyond that, overseeing an estimated 50,000 rebel fighters demands constant meetings with his commanders. Not only must the mujahedin adapt their military tactics if they are to oust the government, but they must also position themselves to determine which among the main insurgent groups will predominate once the government in Kabul falls. Though it is impossible to predict which group will be the most influential, Massoud obviously intends Jamiat...
...military area, Massoud believes that the mujahedin must strike a decisive blow soon, before Najibullah can adjust to the departure of the Soviets, who are scheduled to complete their troop withdrawal by Feb. 15. The government has 150,000 troops dug in around major cities. To face them in a final showdown, Massoud is training 10,000 men, initial units of an "Islamic army," to fight like a conventional force, rather than as hit-and-run marauders. Training, in camps spread along the rugged northern flanks of the Hindu Kush, includes the use of U.S.-supplied Stinger antiaircraft missiles...
Assuming that victory is within reach, Massoud has been devoting time to his second major concern, the maneuvering for advantage among the seven mujahedin parties. All members of the Peshawar alliance are fighting for a country under an Islamic dispensation, but the political shape of that concept is something on which they differ sharply...