The Shamali: Fatal wound in
Pakistan's take-over plot
Special Field Report
After a recent trip to the frontlines, Dr.
Mohammad Zaher Siddiq, a noted Afghan intellectual and writer,
spoke with Omaid Weekly's San Diego correspondent about the
current situation on the battleground. Dr. Siddiq's field study
included firsthand observation of the frontlines and interviews
with prominent commanders of Afghanistan's United Front national
resistance force.
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Cmdr. Bismillah Khan
(left) with Dr. Siddiq |
The Taliban have completely lost their
credibility with the people, severely hampering the militia's plan
to defeat the nation's mujahideen resistance forces.
Commander Bismillah Khan, chief officer of
United Front forces in Parwan province, said the Taliban are using
new tactics against national resistance forces in the Shamali
region. But, Cmdr. Bismillah Khan adds, the militia has faced
continued defeat in the region.
In a recent offensive on Do-Saraka near Bagram
airbase, the Taliban used a new wave technique. The militia would
launch surprise attacks that included five rounds of heavy tank
and artillery fire, backed by air power and using heavy weaponry,
allowing their armored units to advance on the battlefield.
However, soon after their advance, which lulled the enemy into a
false sense of confidence and security, UF troops would execute a
lightning counterattack, exacting substantial casualties on the
enemy and robbing them from any gains.
Cmdr. Bismillah Khan commented that the Afghan
nation has outright rejected the Taliban militia. More importnatly,
Ahmad Shah Masood, supreme commander of the UF, has put new life
into the national resistance force, said Cmdr. Bismillah Khan.
Unity among the national resistance force is at an all time high,
as the UF now benefits from a strong central and unified command,
Cmdr. Bismillah Khan added.
Haji Bari, commanding officer of troops allied
to the UF in Robat, said residents of Nasro and Kulazi, who up
until recently supported the Taliban, have abandoned their
villages. These locals, who belong to Afghanistan's Pashtoon
ethnic group, were previously employed by the Taliban to sabotage
UF resistance efforts. But disillusioned with the Taliban's
barbaric practices in the Shamali, Cmdr. Bari said, they have now
taken refuge from the militia.
Cmdr. Bari recounted a recent battle where he
and a 120-man UF infantry unit was faced with a 12,000-man Taliban
force -- comprised of militiamen, Pakistani mercenaries and Arab
terrorists. But, Cmdr. Bari recalls, with the help of the
Almighty, his unit successfully defended twelve posts and beat
back the enemy. His unit also recorded enemy communications,
revealing that the enemy force was being commanded by Pakistani
officers and Arab commanders.
Dr. Siddiq also told of his interview with
Rahmatullah, a twenty year old Taliban fighter from Ghazni, taken
prisoner by the UF. Rahmatullah said he was forcibly sent to the
frontlines only fifteen days earlier, and that he fought under
Taliban commander Reza Khan, also from Ghazni province. After a
two-week training session taught by Pakistani officers,
Rahmatullah said he was ferried with four Arab fighters to a
citadel in Nasro.
Rahmatullah said the people still refuse, now
more than ever, to send their men and boys to join the Taliban.
But every village under Taliban occupation, he said, is required
to send three fighters for three months of "service."
Any family unable to send a recruit must instead pay 8,000,000
Afghanis. Rahmatullah's father fell short of this huge sum and so
he was forced to send his son to the battlefield. Rahmatullah
himself did want to fight for the militia, which is why, he says,
he was so easily taken prisoner.
Due to the Taliban's oppressive rule and
unrelenting demands on the people under their occupation, many are
starting to join local resistance efforts and initiating
uprisings. Others, as during the Soviet occupation, are fleeing
their towns and villages.
The Taliban have now resorted to maintaining
three rings of preventative security to catch defectors from the
battlefield. The Taliban are also refreshing their frontline
troops at a faster rate. Each time a militia unit faces heavy
resistance from UF forces, their morale is crushed, thus breaking
their will to fight, and they are quickly supplanted by a new
unit. This state of fear and frenzy among old and new militiamen
has caused the Taliban force to rely more and more upon Pakistani
troops and Arab terrorist groups.
The mujahideen resistance fighters in the
Shamali now rally with the battle cry, "Shamali, the
graveyard of the Taliban!" Just over a decade ago, the
Panjsher valley, just north of the Shamali, was dubbed the
graveyard of the Soviet Red Army.
Before their last offensive against the
Shamali, the Taliban imposed a merciless blockade on the region.
The siege was intended to prevent the export of goods and food
products from the Shamali to Kabul; create a shortage of medicine
and other necessities in the Shamali; and induce an economic
collapse in the region. But, with the resilience, hard work and
patriotism of the Shamali populace, prices were actually lower in
UF areas than in Taliban occupied parts, and the availability of
food and other goods was more abundant.
The UF's solid defensive belt around the
Shamali includes the region's entire mujahideen forces, and
comprises all of the nation's ethnic groups. UF troops in the
region consist of Ustad Sayaf's forces from Paghman, fighters
allied with Ningarhar governor Abdul-Qadir, contingents from
Hezb-i Wahdat, and UF allies from Qandahar and other parts of the
country. In contrast, the Taliban have set up tenuous
fortifications in the area, so as to easily facilitate their
escape should the UF attack.
Dr. Siddiq concluded from his field study that
the national resistance force is day by day increasing in strength
and morale, while the Taliban is facing increasing dissent, decay
and eventual dismemberment.
The nation and the world have now seen the true
face of the Taliban. Afghanistan will never succumb to the
barbarity of the militia. On the contrary, the nation is
supporting the same force that yesterday routed the Red Army and
brought about the demise of the Bolshevik horror, and today fights
to save the nation from the Pakistani yoke and the Taliban
abomination -- yesterday's victorious mujahideen freedom fighters
and today's proud and noble national resistance force.
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The Nadir Shah government
and the people of Kapisa & Parwan
A selection from the late-Mir Gholam M.
Ghobar's "Afghanistan in the Course of History II."
Translated and submitted to Omaid Weekly by Dr. Sherief Fayez.
Bent on disallowing any opposition to its
absolute rule or to the colonial English policy, Nadir Shah used
both political and physical suppression against the opposition. He
always had an excuse for using force. His first political step was
to create ethnic divisions, which led to hostility among the
people. When he attacked Kabul, he allowed a number of tribal
chiefs from Paktia to plunder the Arg and the houses of Saqqao
[Shah Habibullah Kalakani] supporters in Kabul. After his capture
of Kabul, they looted the Arg treasures and possessed or plundered
many houses that belonged to Saqqao supporters.
During the Saqqao reign, a crime of this nature
was not committed. Only those houses suspected to have arms were
inspected and nothing was confiscated except arms. When Saqqao
entered Kabul, only one of his soldiers broke into a shop. Saqqao’s
brother, Seyyid Hosayn, caught the culprit and nailed his ear to
the wall of the shop. Since then, nobody’s property was
plundered if not officially confiscated.
When Nadir captured Kabul, a number of tribal
chiefs from Paktia usurped houses of pro-Saqqao officials. For
example, just as Sarbland Jaji entered Kabul, he possessed the
house of Abdol Rahman Kuhestani, who was killed for supporting
Saqqao in Hazarajat. When Sarbland Jaji obtained an order from the
King to evacuate the house -- the order was in response to a
request by the heirs of Abdol Rahman for reclaiming their property
-- he wrote this note to king: "You and I arrived in Kabul at
the same time. Your Majesty possessed the Arg and I owned Abdol
Rahman's house. Therefore, whenever His Majesty returns the Arg to
its owner, I will also return the house to its owner." This
was his final reply and the house remained in his possession.
Although this tribal chief had no literacy, it
did not prevent him from obtaining the rank of deputy marshal from
the King. By granting military ranks to a number of chiefs from
Paktia and by exempting this province from serving the flag, Nadir
Shah pursued a divisive and discriminatory policy. Without a
strong army, he still depended on Paktia and granted its people
special privileges.
After the capture of Kabul by Nadir Shah, Saqqao [Shah
Habibullah Kalakani] escaped. Later, however, some of his
suspicious friends made him surrender, which led to his execution.
In order to buy time and consolidate its power, the Nadir
government announced amnesty and adopted an accommodating approach
with the people of Kapisa and Parwan. The new government appointed
the former secretary of Saqqao, Mirza M. Yusof, governor of the
region, and the local people took a path of obedience too.
However, all this tolerance by the government was obviously
temporary. At the end of 1929, the government, having established
itself, prepared a dangerous plan for a complete crackdown on the
people.
A Sikh by the name of Mengal Sing, father of the Sikh temple in
the Shurbazaar section of Kabul, had owned land and orchards in
Kohdaman. He had mingled with the local people for many years.
This young Sikh, clever, reticent, and mysterious, with an
attractive face and a well-groomed beard, had a made a deep
impression on the local people. He made many friends among them,
including among the bandits.
However, with the capture of Kabul by Saqqao, Mengal Sing
stepped into the arena of politics. Saqqao and his comrades
respected him and invited him to stand in the first row of the
ministers when posing for pictures or eating with them in parties.
He was no longer the same old devout Sikh. He became engaged to a
woman, and he received an official entourage of cavalry and
infantry to escort him to the house of his bride in Kalakan.
On this subject, Islah newspaper (Issue #10, Jadi, 1308) wrote:
"192 persons have been arrested from Shamali up to now, with
6000 rifles captured. House search is still underway." The
newspaper in its next issue wrote that 70 men from Kohestan had
been arrested, with seven heads of those killed brought to Kabul.
In its Hut 29 issue, the source reported that 300 persons were
captured, a number of them were killed, dozens escaped, and fifty
of them were executed in one day in Kabul. The heading of the last
item (“Execution of Villains”) appeared on the first page of
the newspaper. By now the number of the Shamali people executed in
Kabul without any investigation and trial had reached about 700.
Continued in future issues...
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