Word: panjshir
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Ever since Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan on a cold day more than four years ago, the treacherous terrain of the Panjshir Valley has served local rebels as both sanctuary and symbol. The determined Mujahedin guerrillas have been nurtured by grain from its verdant hills, water from its mountain streams and shelter within caves in the shadow of its snow-capped peaks. Above all, the 70-mile-long valley has been the hideout and headquarters of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the charismatic 30-year-old Mujahedin leader who has united more than 5,000 squabbling resistance fighters under his shrewd...
Known as the Lion of Panjshir, Massoud has established a local political and judicial system, organized his own tax system, instituted classes in the use of rocket launchers and heavy artillery, and even set up schools and bus services throughout the valley. His Mujahedin have also hounded their Soviet invaders. Recently they captured and reportedly killed 23 Soviet agents disguised as Mujahedin. By persistently ambushing military convoys traveling between Kabul and the Soviet border, they have caused a severe fuel problem in the capital, a mere 40 miles to the south. Only two weeks ago they compounded that shortage...
...Panjshir Valley has already survived six punishing assaults, but never has it faced more men or heavier air strikes. As many as 100 Soviet Tu-16 Badger bombers and Su-24 Fencer fighters saturated the area with high-altitude carpet bombing. In their wake came some 80 Mi-24 Hind assault helicopters, more than 500 tanks and armored personnel carriers and, according to Western diplomats, more than 20,000 troops, almost a fifth of the entire Soviet force in Afghanistan. The target of this unprecedented show of force was not so much the rebels as the civilians, who have apparently...
Since the rebels lack transportation, heavy equipment and medicine, they must rely on resilience and resourcefulness. Their principal aim is to stem the tide of refugees. Along the exit route in the Panjshir Valley, for example, they check the papers of every would-be emigrant, turning back those without appropriate mujahedin documentation. In battle, the rebels specialize in bushwhacking tank columns, raiding army garrisons, blowing up power lines and assassinating members of the KhAD. Using Soviet land mines fished out of the ground with wooden pitchforks, they destroyed at least twelve enemy tanks in the Panjshir Valley last year...
...lord of the Panjshir Valley is unquestionably the charismatic commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. A former engineering student, Massoud, 29, has remained in Afghanistan and worked tirelessly to galvanize support. He has managed to mobilize virtually all 100,000 inhabitants of the valley, while collecting his own taxes, running his own schools and organizing his own food-rationing scheme. He has even used captured Soviet trucks to establish daily bus service in the valley. Massoud is also prudent enough to avoid needless risks. He travels with four gun-wielding bodyguards and packs a 9-mm automatic under his jacket. In order...