Word: panjshiri
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...northern border through the heart of the Hindu Kush, crossing the 13,000-ft. Anjuman Pass into the Panjshir Valley. It's a grueling three-or four-day journey--for those vehicles that make it. "This road wasn't built for human beings," says Mohammed Zikria, 25, a Panjshiri driver who nearly died last week when his jeep stalled and almost slid backward over a precipice into a foaming mountain river. "It's a road from hell...
...stronghold has presented the already splintered Northern Alliance with a leadership crisis at a critical juncture. The embattled guerrillas hold only one remaining province?northeastern Badakhashan?and Massoud's native Panjshir Valley. Attempting to fill Massoud's place as overall commander is Mohammad Fahim, a 44-year-old Panjshiri regarded as a competent military commander who lacks his former boss's magnetism and political flair...
Against this onslaught were pitted some 2,000 regularly armed Panjshiri and an additional 1,500 to 2,000 guerrillas who had flooded in from neighboring valleys on the promise that they would be issued weapons to aim at the shuravi, the Afghan term for the Soviets. "We were happy when we heard the Soviets were coming," said one guerrilla. "When they were bombing us, there was nothing we could do. Now we have something to shoot...
...main force behind the Panjshiri guerrillas is former Engineering Student Ahmed Shah, 28, who operates under the name Massoud. The scion of one of Kabul's wealthiest families, Massoud first ran into trouble with authorities for being involved with Islamic groups. He has turned the valley into a virtually autonomous state, with independently functioning schools, finances, food distribution, prisons and security committees. He has managed to capture a sizable quantity of Communist supplies. As a result, all his guerrillas wear regular uniforms-Czechoslovak combat boots, fatigue pants and field jackets-and most are equipped with Soviet AK-47 rifles...