Transcript
All rights reserved under Copyright Act 1968 Australia
and subsequent amendments.
ISBN 978-0-646-55185-2 (pbk.)
E-mail: noor.khalidi@gmail.com
First published 2011 by:
KRD Books A DIVISION OF KRD SOCIAL CONSULTING
Parramatta, NSW, Australia E-mail: krd.consulting@gmail.com
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Khalidi, Noor Ahmad.
Title: The avalanche: a reality rooted story about September 11,
Afghanistan & the US / Noor Ahmad Khalidi. Subjects: September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001--Fiction.
Afghan War, 2001---Fiction. Dewey Number: A823.4
Typesetting in Garamond 12/16
Cover painting & painting of the map on the cover page 3 by Noor A Khalidi ©
Cover design by:
Merx Equity's Creative Design Studio, New Delhi, India
Printed in India by:
Gopsons Papers Ltd 1-2&3 Sector 64
Noida 201301, UP, India
Disclaimer
Apart from the real names of major political and military leaders
and well-known real characters, all other names used in this story
are fictitious and any resemblance with real people is a matter of
coincidence.
Acknowledgements
This story is inspired by media reports of the actual events and
subsequent articles and interviews with the original characters
published by the international media.
I am also indebted to a number of people for their comments on
various developmental stages of this book they include Brian Cook,
David Knights, Kelly Barlin, Ali Istalifi, Iqbal Khalidi and John
O’Brien.
Use of poetry quotations by Hafiz from: Shahriar Shahriari, 1999 -
2005, Los Angeles, http://www.hafizonlove.com/divan/01/001.htm.
CONTENTS
1 THE LIGHTNING 1
Arrival of Jawbreakers 1 The Blue Lightning 4
2 THE THUNDER STORM 18
3 THE SHOKWAVES 26
The Terror Triangle 26 Camp K2 Uzbekistan 32
Hapless time in Afghanistan 39
4 THE AVALANCHE 58
Doves over the Blue Domes 58 Race to Kabul 77 Kabul rejoicing 87
Behind the enemy lines 92 Debriefing at Kamp K2 116
In hot pursuit 121 Kandahar: Vanishing of the invisible 131
Qalai-Djangi 143
5 THE ESCAPE 162
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1 THE LIGHTNING
Arrival of Jawbreakers
It was September 26, 2001 and I was anxiously waiting
at the airstrip of the Bazarak town of the Panjshir Valley in
Afghanistan to receive The Jawbreakers, a delegation of the US
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers, agents and airmen.
Late in the afternoon, a green Russian made MI17 helicopter
with the Afghan Air Force markings landed and brought the
delegation from Tajikistan. I led them to a conference room
where they met the Afghan Northern Front (The Northern
Alliance) representatives. The alliance forces were resisting the
Taliban and Al-Qaeda foreign fighters in Afghanistan.
The Jawbreakers included John Baker, a stocky bearded
man in his forties from New York. This was his second visit to
the Northern Alliance held areas in Afghanistan that year. He
will play a significant role in the story that I am going to tell
you. The agents carried with them suitcases full of money, a lot
of money in $100 bills, in fact, and a formal proposal on behalf
of the Government of the United States, to help the Afghan
Northern Alliance, by all means, to topple the Taliban and
destroy the Al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan. This was the kind
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of proposal for five years we at the Northern Alliance waited to
hear from the Americans. The Northern Alliance also urgently
needed the money to hire more local Afghan fighters and in
order to buy the uncommitted local Taliban commanders. It
appeared that our interests and the interest of the US have
converged after all.
As I watched Baker passionately elaborate the US
government‘s plan to assist the Northern Alliance in removing
the Taliban from power and destroying the Al-Qaeda safe
havens and bases in Afghanistan, his words sounded like a late
echo to the prophecy of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the legendary
Afghan guerrilla fighter. Massoud had warned the European
Parliament in April that "If President Bush doesn't help us, then the
terrorists will damage the United States and Europe very soon - and it will
be too late."
His warnings fell into deaf ears of the US when it
mattered but yet, here the Americans were, in Panjshir
Afghanistan, pledging unqualified immediate support for the
Northern Alliance. It seems that three infamous days in the
recent history of Afghanistan and the United States have
changed the world. In Afghanistan, a disaster has made way to
a golden opportunity. In the midst of the darkest days of the
Northern Alliance, I thought it was more than a bright light at
the end of the tunnel it was, in fact, like turning on the flood
lights of a football stadium after a blackout.
Who I am and how come I was in the enclave of
northeastern Afghanistan in September 2001? My name is
Daoud Afghanyar. I am an Afghan with father from eastern
Afghanistan and mother, with Barakzai roots, grew up in
Kabul. In the mid 1980s, I migrated to Canada with my family
due to the continued civil war in Afghanistan.
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I returned to Afghanistan in May 2000 on matters of a
personal nature; however, I think the fate entangled me with
political and military events, which is, shaping the future in
Afghanistan. Lately, I was helping Massoud‘s transformation
from a guerrilla fighter to a statesman. As the story continues, I
will tell you more about myself.
***
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The Blue Lightning
September 8, 2001
On Saturday night, I was at Massoud‘s quarters at the
Khwaja Bahauddin military base in the northern Takhar
province of Afghanistan. Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of
Panjshir, as he was known, was the strongman of the Northern
Alliance, the remnants of the Afghan Mujahidin government
who were forced to flee the capital, Kabul, in the face of the
Taliban advances in 1996. At the time, the Northern Alliance
was hanging on to a small enclave in the mountainous
northeastern part of Afghanistan that included Badakhshan
province and parts of the Takhar and the Panjshir provinces.
Sitting quietly in a room, one could hear the splashing sound of
water hitting the banks of the Amu Darya, the ancient Greek‘s
river Oxus, in a place just miles from where, in 329 BC, the city
Alexandria of Oxus was founded by Seleucus The First and
where Greek army veterans decided to stay with their wives and
start a new life. Besides me, present in the room were Ahmad
Shah Massoud and his guest, Massoud Khalili, then the Afghan
ambassador to India.
Massoud, reading from a poetry collection of the
famous twelfth-century Persian poet Hafiz, said to Khalili
―Listen to this piece:
The dark midnight, fearful waves, and the tempestuous whirlpool,
how can he know of our state, while ports house his unladen
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ships. I followed my own path of love, and now I am in bad
repute. How can a secret remain veiled, if from every tongue it
drips? If His presence you seek, Hafiz, then why yourself eclipse?
Stick to the one you know, let go of imaginary trips.”
I looked at him and wondered how on earth he could
be so calm, collected, and able to read poetry while a fierce
battle was raging between his men and the Taliban forces.
From the early hours of that day, the Taliban had launched a
major offensive against the Northern Alliance positions at the
southern foot of the Hindu Kush near Jabulsaraj. Reports from
General Bismillah Khan, Massoud‘s Southern flank
commander, suggested that the Taliban were attacking with
everything they had in their arsenal. Just an hour previously
Massoud was on the phone with Bismillah Khan and gave him
the wide-ranging strategic advice he sought to withstand the
offensive. The Taliban forces were just recently reinforced with
the arrival from Pakistan of thousands of Arab and Pakistani
madrassa student volunteers who were eager to help the
Taliban claim all of Afghanistan and put an end to Massoud‘s
resistance. Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader, had recently
called upon all Good Moslems of the World to join the Taliban in a
jihad to bring all of Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. For
weeks, we had credible reports that a number of retired
Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and retired army
officers were preparing the Taliban and foreign volunteer
forces for a decisive battle to finish off our Northern Alliance
enclave in the northeastern part of Afghanistan.
Here in Khwaja Bahauddin, close to the border with
Tajikistan, Massoud was trying to organize and train a regular,
disciplined army to overthrow the Taliban. Tajikistan was a
friendly country that was equally afraid of the prospect of the
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formation of a Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-inspired, confederation
of ultra fundamentalist Pan-Islamic states consisting of
Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
Tajikistan was a vital source and conduit of logistical supplies to
us. We had lost an opportunity to be connected to Tajikistan by
road when the Taliban overran Taloqan, the provincial capital
of Takhar province, where Iranian engineers were engaged to
build a bridge over the Amu Darya. Therefore, the only means
of transportation to and from Tajikistan were by helicopters
and barges.
Recent days had been rather gloomy. After the fall of
Taloqan to the advancing Taliban forces and their foreign
fighters, we were clinging to a small enclave in this isolated
most north-eastern part of Afghanistan. The help, military and
logistical, that we were receiving from our northern neighbours
and Iran in the west of the country, combined with the strategic
and tactical vision and leadership of the Amir Sahib, as
Massoud was referred to by his own Panjshiri people, was
barely enough to keep us afloat. It was by no means sufficient
to defeat the Taliban, who enjoyed the unconditional support
of the Pakistani government, the rich states of Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates, and the radical Islamic movements
around the world.
The West was not interested in helping us. All that the
United States was interested in and willing to help with was
hunting down Osama bin Laden. Even that was a mere recent
development following the suicide bombings in Africa of the
US embassies and the attack on the US Navy destroyer USS
Cole in Yemen in October 2000. Prior to that U.S. involvement
in Afghanistan was limited to securing a safe passage through
Afghanistan to Pakistani ports on the Arabian Sea for the
construction of oil pipelines. The U.S. Company UNOCAL
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needed to carry the oil reserves from the areas north of
Afghanistan, in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and
Russia, to western markets. A prerequisite for that was a stable
Afghanistan under a single government, a condition offered at
the time by the Taliban. This is why the United States was
willing to see the Taliban victory over Massoud. One of
Massoud‘s close associate who was present in a meeting with
Massoud in 1998 told me that, Robin Rafael, the U.S. assistant
secretary of state for South Asian affairs, suggested to Massoud
that his best option would be to surrender to the Taliban.
Massoud famously threw his round Pakul hat on the table and
responded that he would never abandon, even if he had only a
territory the size of his hat left to him.
So by September 2001, many people had numbered our
days. But yet, Massoud was frustrating the Taliban forces by
launching quick attacks in many fronts, causing damages and
retreating quickly. Given the circumstances, it was clear that we
were on borrowed time.
It was around 8:00 pm when the door opened and
Massoud‘s private assistant, Jamshid, came in with the news
that the major thrust of the Taliban attacks on the southern
front had now shifted to the Golbahar area, and that General
Bismillah Khan‘s men were resisting the Taliban pressure.
I knew Massoud from my days of studying at Kabul
University in the early 1970s. While I was studying law and
political science, he was attending the Kabul Polytechnic
Institute to become an architect. I was three years older than
him. Ahmad Shah Massoud was born on September 2, 1953 in
Bazarak, Panjshir, Afghanistan. He started school at the age of
five in the Bazarak village of the Panjshir Valley and stayed
there until second grade.
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Though coming from different parts of the country,
ironically, it appears that, in childhood, he followed my
footsteps. His father became police commissioner of Herat
province after my father left the post, and Massoud attended
the same primary school in Herat, Moafaq, where at the age of
five, I began my formal education. We both developed love for
literature and poetry while studying in Herat, the most literary
city in Afghanistan. I moved to Kabul and completed my
secondary education at Ghazi High School, where English was
the secondary teaching language. A couple of years later,
Massoud also moved to Kabul, but he went to another elite
high school, the Esteqlal lycee, where French was the secondary
teaching language.
However, our childhood similarities end just there.
While I was an urbanised person by every imagination, in
contrast, born and grown up his early childhood in rural
Panjshir where he began his primary education, Massoud
remained a rural person. Perhaps that gave him the ability to
connect better to his people in Panjshir, an isolated rural
countryside environment, than many other activists.
As teenagers, our political inspirations were to become
totally different. Like millions of the 1970s urbanised youth
worldwide, I was attracted to a fast growing tide of leftist hot-
blooded students who saw socialist ideals and promises of
social equality and centrally guided economies as the best short
cut path to economic and social development and better life for
the impoverish countries of the third world such as
Afghanistan. In contrast, Massoud was attracted to the
complete opposite forces, radical Islamic movement of
Sazman-i-Jawanan-Mosalman, headed by Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, to stop the fast moving leftist tide. The radical
Islamic movement was inspired by the writings of Sayyid and
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Mohammad Qutb the Egyptian Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen (Muslim
Brotherhood) radical anti-communist Islamic scholars of the
1950s and 60s. That is why the movement members were
nicknamed by people ―Ikhwani‖ in Afghanistan. At the time,
Sazman-i-Jawanan-Mosalman was the student wing of the
Islamic Society (Jamiat-i-Islami) headed by Professor
Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Then there were also three main leftist organisations,
People‘s Democratic Party of Afghanistan-Parcham (PDPA-
Banner), People‘s Democratic Party of Afghanistan-Khalq
(PDPA-Masses) and Shola-i-Jaweed (The Eternal Flame). Both
Parcham and Khalq were inspired by the Soviet Union while
Shola-i-Jaweed was a Maoist movement. All of these leftist
movements preceded the Organisation of Islamic Youth by a
few years.
I found both Parcham and Khalq to be too submissive
and narrow minded in following the Soviet path to social
development. Soon it also became clear to me that my love for
civil liberties, freedom and democracy were too liberal to fit in
the rigid world of Maoism. Hence, I became a sort of freelance
political activist looking for a real identity.
Here, we were, Rabbani confined to his small
hometown, Faizabad, in Badakhshan Province and Hekmatyar,
who for so many years played the villain role of the Afghan
politics, in exile, in Iran, and Massoud was fighting, once again,
for his survival in his beloved highland valley of Panjshir.
Cornered here in the north-east part of Afghanistan, the
National Front alliance felt the full brunt of Wahabi Islam
fundamentalism spearheaded by the Al-Qaeda. It was some six
months that I got quite close to the heart of the leadership of
the alliance due to my knowledge of English and political
expertise that the movement was extremely short supplied.
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It was 7:30pm when Jamshid once again came in with a
Walkie Talkie in hand for Massoud. General Bismillah Khan
was on the other side requesting permission to launch a counter
attack on the Taliban forces from the Salang Valley. Massoud
denied permission and suggested not to stretch his forces at
that point. Massoud continued his poetry recital after Jamshid
left the room.
Massoud was clearly unhappy about the American‘s
narrow minded approach to curb the tide of the international
terrorism by focussing only on bin-Laden. In this respect, I
remember his comments to a delegation of the CIA agents,
headed by the same agent John Baker, the anti-terrorism expert,
who visited him in Panjshir early 2001 to seek his assistance to
capture bin Laden and Al-Qaeda‘s top Lieutenants. He clearly
told them that, in isolation, Al-Qaeda by itself is nothing. It was
the triangle of the ISI, Al-Qaeda and Taliban which must be
destroyed. Later in April 2001, he repeated the same in his
address to the European Parliament.
However, in the midst of those gloomy days, after years
of isolation and disparity, there were glimpses of hope for our
survival. In April, Massoud addressed the European Parliament
in Strasbourg, France to shore up support for the Northern
Alliance Government in Afghanistan. Recently the Northern
Alliance was reinvigorated with the return of all leading
warlords such as Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Hazara
leader Karim Khalili and Ismail Khan, the Herat Emir, from
exile in Turkey and Iran to fight the Taliban. At the same time,
Massoud was in contact and was cooperating with people like
Abdul Haqq and Hamid Karzai in east and south of the
country, the supporters of King Mohammad Zahir Shah, to
convene a Loya Jirgah (Constitutional Grand Assembly) to
bring about a government of national reconciliation in
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Afghanistan. Recognising the importance of King Zahir Shah
in establishing a government of national unity in Afghanistan
the US Congress had recently approved funds to help him in
his efforts to convene the proposed Loya Jirga. This also
resulted in getting more money from Iran and more weapons
from Russia to the National Front.
Massoud continued reading from Hafiz:
“Make not restlessness & insomnia, Hafiz's sentence
What is rest, which is patience, and sleep whence?”
Then he turned to me and said: ―Hey, you the poetry
lover! Why don‘t you read a piece of your own writing for us?‖
―I am not sure if you would like my writing. I am still a
pupil. Here, is an example:
Black clouds break and weep for us
The lightning of events over there
trumpeted by the echoing thunder
Our cries fell heedless
No one listened to our plea
Deaf the world to our alarms
Our backs are breaking from this burden
Every bone cracking form the load
This evil destiny blackens all our days
Even the dark of night
is less than the doom by day.
No, do not rail against fate!
Our own blindness brought us this!”
To my astonishment, talking poetry continued all night
while a stream of news from the front suggested continued
heavy fighting throughout. Our guest, Ambassador Khalili was
the son of a famous Afghan poet, Khalilullah Khalili, so he was
naturally interested in poetry, as well. Was reading poetry at that
difficult time by Massoud signalling his confidence in the
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victory? Was he trying to reassure his men of victory by not
showing any sign of concern?
Then I realized that this situation is hardly anything
new to him. He was a survivor. In the past, he was four times
surrounded by the mighty red army of the then Soviet Union
and each time he managed to survive. Each time his
predicaments were severe compared to those of the legendary
guerrilla fighters such as Che Guevara, Mao or Ho Chi Minh.
So, in comparison, for Massoud, now well entrenched in his
fortress named ―Panjshir‖ fighting the rag tag black army of
mostly untrained Afghan Taliban and their foreign supporters
was considered a passing time hobby. Remembering the past
made me look at him with further admiration.
At about 4am Sunday, 9th September, Ahmad Jamshid,
Massoud‘s private assistant, came in with the news that General
Bismillah Khan‘s Mujahidin forces managed to repel the
Taliban offensive. That was fantastic news for everyone. It was
then that Massoud decided to go to bed and told me, as the
media liaison officer for the Northern Alliance that he would
be available in the afternoon to give the interview sought by the
two Arab TV journalists.
The two journalists had arrived some 12 days earlier.
They claimed to have spent two weeks in Paghman near Kabul
as guests of Professor Sayyaf before travelling to Panjshir and
on to Khwaja Bahauddin Base. Apparently, professor Sayyaf
had a telephone request from Dr Hani, who was an Egyptian
friend of Sayyaf from the anti-Soviet jihad era of the 1980s, to
arrange for the introduction of the two journalists to Massoud.
As per the rumours, Dr. Hani claimed that he was calling
Sayyaf from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Sayyaf agreed to request
permission from Massoud for the journalist‘s travel to Panjshir.
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Since their arrival, we housed them at a guesthouse in Bazarak,
Panjshir.
According to their passports, they were a 26-year-old
Kacem Bakkali, the cameraman, and a 34-year-old Karim
Touzani, the reporter, both Belgians originally from Morocco.
The passports bore multiple entry visa stamps valid for one
year, issued by Pakistan Embassy in London. They had
introductory letters from Islamic Observation Centre, based in
London and from Arabic News International.
While waiting for the availability of Massoud to give
interview, I took the Arab journalists to commander Bismillah
Khan for a tour of the front lines, particularly to southern most
parts near Jabulsaraj. The Panjshir Valley is nestled in the
rugged Hindu Kush mountain range, along the charging
Panjshir River. Dotted by wheat and corn fields and orchards
alongside the torrent river, the Panjshir valley is a beautiful
place to visit. The name Panjshir means five lions, for five
brothers from the valley who dammed the river for Sultan
Mahmood of Ghazni in the 10th century AD. Starting at
Dalan-Sang, the narrow gorge that forms the mouth of the
valley, proceeds up and widens to reveal agricultural plots of
land and villages with walnut and mulberry gardens. We found
the Panjshir River to be rich with fish. Driving along the river
we saw men thigh-deep in the water casting nets. Along the
way, we had fish for lunch cooked at roadside stalls. The snow
melt had turned the river into a torrent, but even in late
summer and early autumn, there were plenty of spectacular
rapids to watch.
Returning from the southern front, knowing Massoud
was still unavailable for the interview, we travelled up north of
the valley. The Panjshir Valley is almost 100km long, it leads in
the north to two passes over the Hindu Kush the Khawak Pass
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(3848m) leading to the northern plains, and the Anjoman Pass
(4430m) that crosses into Badakhshan– used by the armies of
Alexander the Great and Timor. The valley was protected on
two sides by high-mountain ranges with their rocky-barren
peaks piercing the clear blue skies. Many of the peaks had
experienced sustained carpet bombing raids by the Soviet Air
Force during the 1980s, unsuccessfully hoping to break down
Massoud‘s resistance. Ironically, those bombing raids had one
positive impact for the people of Panjshir they opened up some
precious emerald mines which now form the backbone of the
valley‘s economy.
Our Arab journalists were apparently not much
interested in enjoying the scenery and the free site seeing. I
thought that might have been the result of the eagerness to get
the interview done with and go home. Strange enough for
journalists, they were not that eager to interview anybody along
the trip and were not filming much, as well. I found it odd, but
at the time we had lots of other concerns to be worried about
such small details. Nevertheless, it shows the incompetent level
of intelligent officers of the Northern Alliance. At the same
time, Fahim Dashty, an Afghan filmmaker from Panjshir, who
was shooting a documentary on Massoud, and wanted to film
Massoud‘s interview with the Arab journalists was also
accompanying us on the tour.
On our return from the north of the valley, I was told
that Massoud had visited the guesthouse in the morning and
was prepared to give the expected interview. But he had left a
message for us to join him on his helicopter ride to Khwaja
Bahauddin that afternoon. When we arrived at the airstrip,
helicopter number 570, Massoud‘s workhorse, was ready to
take off, however, due to overloading of passengers, we had to
wait for another day for the next flight.
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The next day, September 8, 2001, we were among the
passengers of a helicopter flight from Bazarak in Panjshir to
Khwaja Bahauddin military base in Takhar province. The two
Arab journalists and Fahim Dashty, our Panjshiri filmmaker,
were sitting quietly opposite me on the helicopter bench. This
was an old military helicopter, so the most comfortable seat
was terribly uncomfortable. I guess it was not easy for a pilot to
fly over the 4500 meters high-mountain passes and between
two mountain walls, where rapid weather changes can always
be expected. However, the pilots of the remaining 10
helicopters of the Northern Alliance Air Force, the remnants of
the Afghan Air Force, had perfected this art. The scenery seen
through the helicopter windows was incredible. The snow-
covered granite mountain peaks piercing into the blue skies and
the icy covered slopes and numerous valleys which were the
source of the rushing crystal clear waters of the Panjshir River
were picture perfect for a naturalist to enjoy.
The flight took only half an hour. On arrival at Khwaja
Bahauddin, we were directed to stay at the guest room of the
cottage of Arif Sarwary, the Security Chief of the Northern
Alliance.
Knowing my love for literature and poetry, Massoud
invited me to his place for dinner. He had an important guest
that night, Ambassador Massoud Khalili, the son of a famous
contemporary Afghan Dari poet and politician, the late
Khalilullah Khalili. It was this link that gave Massoud a rare
opportunity to allow himself a little indulgence that night with
recitation of a few poems from his beloved Hafiz collection.
After Massoud had told me that he would give the
long-awaited T.V. interview to the Arab journalists, I returned
to the guest house and went straight to bed. It was 10am
Sunday September 9, when I woke up. I found the journalists
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standing at the cottage‘s veranda. I suggested to them, to get
ready, as the interview would be conducted that afternoon at
the office of the security chief.
When I entered the security chief‘s office accompanied
by the Arab journalists and Fahim Dashty, the Panjshiri
filmmaker, Massoud was on the phone. Three other people
were also present in the room. Ambassador Khalili, Massoud‘s
private assistant Ahmad Jamshid and Asim Sohail, a Northern
Alliance Official. Khalili was sitting close to the reporter. The
Arab journalists handed over their letters of introduction.
Massoud asked the journalists about their impression travelling
in the Taliban controlled areas. The reporter, Karim Touzani,
responded that they were refused interview with Mullah
Mohammad Omar in Kandahar as he considered Television to
be ―haraam‖ (forbidden) in Islam. The cameraman, Kacem
Bakkali was adjusting his tripod, which I thought was set too
low with the camera lens pointing to Massoud‘s chest. Then,
Massoud asked to see the list of questions. As the list was in
English, Massoud gave it to his assistant for conversion into
Dari. Jamshid took the list and went out of the room. Massoud
was sitting on an armchair with his trade mark brown
mujahidin Paul hat tacked to one side. The Panjshiri filmmaker,
Fahim Dashty, was busy adjusting his camera. He was standing
on the left between the cameraman and the reporter. I was
standing slightly off centre, behind the cameraman in a position
that I could see Massoud while observing the cameraman
adjusting his tripod and installing a sizeable battery pack, on the
right side of the camera.
Asim Sohail moved in front of me at about the moment
when the cameraman was about to switch the camera on, to
take his seat on the right side of the room. I saw a lightning
flush of rich blue fire engulfed the room. The force of the
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explosion pushed Asim Sohail hard onto me, and we both hit
the ground terribly hard. The blast shattered the window, and
the door was forced wide open.
When I stood up, I saw the cameraman lying on the
floor cut in two by the blast, Asim Sohail lying on the floor and
Massoud still seated on the armchair with blood all over his
body. The reporter apparently not injured tried to escape but
was captured by the guards outside the room. Massoud‘s
bodyguard, Haji Mohammad Omar, ran inside the room and
with my help rushed Massoud onto a Toyota pickup and drove
towards the airstrip and boarded the helicopter Number 570.
Shortly afterwards Ambassador Khalili and Fahim Dashty were
also brought on board as they were also injured in the blast. By
the time the helicopter landed 10 minutes later at an Indian run
hospital in Farkhor, southern Tajikistan, Massoud had stopped
breathing. The doctors found pieces of shrapnel piercing his
heart.
That was it, a blue lightning flush of fire by two suicide
Arab terrorists, posing to have been journalists, killed Massoud,
the Afghan Che Guevara, a charismatic, romantic, intellectual
fighter of the Afghan guerrilla wars.
I immediately returned to Panjshir the same day and held
meetings with the Alliance leadership. While an official message
confirming the assassination was transmitted to the US
government, the public announcement was merely reporting
injuries to Massoud. This was needed for the leadership to buy
time to regroup. The message to the CIA's counter-terrorism
agency said that an axis of Pakistani ISI-Osama-Taliban has
plotted the assassination by two Arab suicide bombers. For
over two weeks, we had to wait to receive the US official
response.
***
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2 THE THUNDER STORM
Major Mike Dillon jumped out of the jeep dusted his
boots and his camouflage uniform and went inside the
changing room of the field camp in Almaty, Kazakhstan. It was
6:30 Pm local time September 11, 2001. During the last two
weeks, two of his Alpha teams, A-team 344, a 12-man US
Special Forces team commanded by Captain Anthony Hagan
and A-team 555, commanded by Charles Brown, a man with a
Harley Davison cap and tattoos all over his arms, were engaged
in an exercise with Kazakh paratroopers in a desert just outside
of Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan. This, resources rich
landlocked Eurasian country in Central Asia, is bordering
Russia, China, Uzbekistan and the Caspian Sea. The exercises
were part of the Special Forces‘ general training program to get
to know the environments where they may one day be required
to deploy and to work with people of diverse cultural
backgrounds.
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Dillon, a 35 years old man from Milwaukee, was a
highly trained officer who could make quick crucial decisions in
conditions when lives are on the line. He had spent 15 years in
the army‘s infantry service and participated in Desert Shield
operations, and was now commander of a Battalion of Army‘s
Special Forces Alpha Teams. He had arrived a few days earlier
to evaluate the progress of the training exercises.
Dillon wanted to change quickly into a civilian outfit
and head to a restaurant in downtown Almaty, where he was to
have dinner with some members of his team and a few of his
Kazakh counter-parts. It took him not much time to change
and head to the restaurant where he was accompanied by
Captain Hagan.
The Mongolian style exotic food, skewered lamb kebab
with fresh salad and freshly baked flat bread, was plentiful and
delicious. They had a few drinks of Russian vodka, as well.
The group were amused by a Special Forces soldier who during
the day‘s exercises could not get on the back of a horse in three
attempts. His Kazakh counterparts were energetic and
humorous lads. They found something comical in anything.
He had just sipped his vodka when Dillon‘s mobile
phone started ringing. It was David Sharp, the A-team‘s Senior
Communications Sergeant. After a brief conversation over the
phone, Dillon said to Captain Hagan that he needed to talk to
him in private. They excused themselves and moved briefly
outside the restaurant. Dillon told Hagan of the terrorist
attacks unfolding in New York and Washington DC. For a
moment, Hagan was frozen. The news was shocking: the New
York Twin Towers were hit by commercial passenger planes,
and parts of the Pentagon were on fire. When they returned to
the restaurant, Jefferson, the team‘s weapons officer, noticed
the shock in Dillon‘s face. ―What is it?‖ asked Jefferson.
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Dillon looked at him and said, ―Let‘s get back to the
base, and I‘ll explain it to you on the way.‖ With that, Dillon
and the A-team members excused themselves and headed
towards the camp.
At the camp, his other team members were all gathered
around a TV set watching CNN‘s broadcasts from Washington
DC and New York. In silence, they watched as events were
unfolding. At last someone loudly asked ―Why? What did we
do to deserve this?‖
Another voice asked, ―Who did those terrible things?‖
He went on to ask, ―What are we gonna do?‖ They looked to
Major Dillon for possible answers. Jefferson moved to the edge
of his seat and leaned forward.
Dillon looked around and said, ―Well guys, obviously I
don‘t certainly know who did it or why they did it, but…‖ He
paused, feeling the tense heat of all eyes focussed on him.
―But, one thing is clear— there will be a war, guys. I have no
doubt in that; I guarantee that.‖
Dillon paused for a second or two and then continued,
―Someone is going to pay for this pretty ugly!‖ Ted answered,
―Yes, I agree, but who did it. If we don‘t know the enemy,
then who are we going to fight?‖ At this moment Thomas, the
air force combat controller, whispered ―Don‘t you worry, we
will make one if we don‘t find the real one!‖ Major Dillon
answered ―I assure you, they will find them soon, those who
are behind these attacks.‖
Ted asked ―Has anyone claimed responsibility, has
anyone issued a statement saying he did it and why he did it?‖
Major Dillon tried to answer, ―Oh, there are some people who
certainly do not like our way of life, our democracy, our
freedom.‖ He replied. One of the soldiers, Ted Wolinski, who
was often referred by other soldiers as ―the professor,‖ for
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always having an opinion on anything and everything,
wondered aloud: ―Who do we go to war with if we don‘t know
who the enemy is?‖ Ted‘s grandparents had migrated from
Poland after World War II. He added, ―Gee, the guys who did
this must have been terribly angry to do the ultimate sacrifice,
much like those Japanese kamikaze pilots.
Another soldier replied, ―Oh no man, there‘s a big
difference here. Those Japanese pilots were soldiers during
WW II, and they were doing so in the heat of battles against
our Navy war ships. This is not war time, and the terrorists
have used civilian planes full of innocent civilian passengers
against civilian targets. These are cold-blooded murderous
acts.‖
Ted wondered ―Then why they didn‘t hit the Statue of
the Liberty instead?‖ He continued, ―They hit the Pentagon,
the symbol of our military power and the Twin Towers, the
symbols of our worldwide trade supremacy; as if they wanted to
send us a specific message.‖
One of the soldiers, Dave Brown, the boxer, the
Mohammad Ali of the team, shouted ―Shut the f...k up
professor. Don‘t you see? They hit those targets because they
were so big and so easy to find and full of people to kill.‖
Thomas shouted ―Maybe it is Saddam Hussein who did
it! He has obviously more than a thousand reasons to hate us!
During operation, Desert Storm, we expelled him from Kuwait
and thousands of Iraqis were killed during the operations.‖
Someone added, ―On top of that, we keep refusing to
lift the trade embargo on them which has been in place for so
many years now.‖ He continued ―And whenever we or the
British like, we gut the country with weeks of heavy bombings.
So its true, Saddam Hussein may have done it.‖
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Ted said, ―Or maybe they were Palestinians or other
Arabs angry at the continued occupation of Arab lands for over
thirty five years by Israel and at the killing of thousands of their
people by this naughty favourite son of us in the Middle East
who enjoys our unqualified blind support and protection.‖
Matthew, the group‘s weapons sergeant, whose father
fought in the Vietnam War said, ―What about the Vietnamese?
We have killed and injured more than a million of them. They
might still have reasons to hate us! Or perhaps it was the North
Koreans, with whom we fought a long war and still not at
peace. Or maybe the Panamanians, we invaded their country
and their President still counting days in a Miami jail.‖ He
paused for a moment and then went on ―They could be the
Yugoslavians. Do not forget that we have used every type of
our weapons systems on Yugoslavia for not letting the Kosovo
province break away from the country, I remember that we
bombed lots of targets there, not all necessarily military targets,
such as radio and T.V. stations, government buildings,
communications, commercial facilities. I am sure there are a lot
of angry people there who hate us.‖
Dave shouted ―To be frank, I even don‘t remember if
we have ever bombed Yugoslavia and I am sure those things,
which happened, in Korea and Vietnam, were already
forgotten, nobody remembers those things.‖ He continued
―But I tell you who might have organised this! The tall bearded
Arab guy in Pakistan! What‘s his funny name? Loqma or
Osama! The navy destroyed his bases in Pakistan a couple of
years ago with over 70 cruise missiles. A lot of his men were
killed then.‖
Ted replied ―Not Pakistan, Pakistan is our ally, his bases
are in Afghanistan.‖
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Thomas whispered, ―How come you claim that
Pakistan is our ally while I recently read somewhere that the
chief of their intelligence, the ISI, had warned bin Laden an
hour before the missiles hit the targets, and they all got away.‖
He paused and then continued, ―Apparently our 70 cruise
missiles worth some million dollars each hit $5 worth tents,
causing reportedly 20 deaths some of them civilians, while bin
Laden and his elite were miles away from the target area.‖
Dave replied ―How could the Pakistani ISI know about
the incoming missiles in advance when apparently they were
notified just a few minutes before the missiles entered their
airspace?‖
Thomas replied, ―The Navy guys did not fire the
missiles from submarines, as promised, but instead, amassed a
fleet of surface ships and destroyers in the Arabian sea off the
coast of Pakistan within the clear range of their electronic
surveillance and air defence radars. All of the Navy captains in
the area wanted to be part of the event.‖ Thomas went on to
say, ―after this event bin Laden was greeted as a hero in
Pakistan, and his posters and T-Shirts were everywhere.‖
Ted said ―Nevertheless, bin Laden obviously doesn‘t
like our way of life. I read he has three wives and doesn‘t like
Americans at all! He most probably has done this.‖
Matthew shouted ―Now that you guys mentioned him,
Osama bin Laden, I remember this name. It makes perfect
sense to me that he is the one who has done it. This guy, they
say, is an extremist Moslem Jihadi who was involved in the
bombings of our embassies in Africa too I understand that FBI
is after him.‖
Thomas said, ―OK guys, thank you. It looks as we have
found our enemy. This guy, Osama bin Laden, has climbed up
our suspects chart very quickly. In less than 20 minutes, he is
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elevated from might be organiser to most probably and now to
the one who did it. So, it seems nobody is disputing his status
in the ranking now. He is not a suspect anymore. He is our
man. We missed taking him out last time in our missile attacks
on his bases in Afghanistan. Now we have to go and get him,
dead or alive.‖
Major Dillon, who was quietly listening to the debate,
said ―Anyway guys, I am sure the outcome of all this is that we
will have a lot of work to do, pretty soon. And you know what?
We are naturally the first to be called to service. You know
where we are right now, at the neighbourhood of Afghanistan
whose Taliban government has given Osama bin Laden a safe
haven. So be prepared for actual deployment, God knows
where, but for sure somewhere not very friendly to us.‖
Ted remarked, ―It‘s interesting, a very interesting
scenario.‖
―What is interesting professor?‖ said Dave.
―I had a friend who used to work for the CIA, and who
was stationed for some years in Pakistan, during the operations
to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan, during the 1980s. He
once told me that he was involved in bringing in thousands of
extremist Moslem Arabs, Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks and even
from the Western Europe and elsewhere to Pakistan to join
Pakistani and Afghan extremist Islamic groups in fighting
against the former USSR. They were providing them with
money, arms, training and intelligence support. In fact, he was
telling me that the extremist Moslem Jihadists were actively
promoted during that period and were directed to fighting the
Communism worldwide. However, he said that the CIA had no
interest in what these Jihadists would do after the Russians
were gone. Apparently Pakistani Intelligence Service, ISI, used
them in Kashmir against India; and Chechens, Uzbeks and
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Noor A Khalidi
Tajiks went on to fight Russians and governments in their own
Countries. But thousands of them apparently dispersed all over
the Arab countries and formed very extremist Jihadi group such
as the Al-Qaeda which is headed by our guy, Osama,‖
explained Ted.
―My God, It looks as the CIA has created a monster
which has now gone wild and they have commissioned the FBI
to tame it!‖ said Thomas.
―Yes, and it looks like it is a little bit beyond the FBI
capabilities now and we have to do it for them,‖ replied Ted.
During all this debate, Charles Brown, the man with a
Harley Davison cap, commander of the Alpha team 555 was
quietly listening. He whispered ―the smoke from the Twin
Towers is going to be merged from the smoke from bombs!‖
He was proved right. Over the course of the
subsequent weeks following the September 11, Dillon and his
Special Forces were recalled to their base in Fort Campbell,
Florida in the United States to prepare for their imminent
deployment abroad.
***
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3 THE SHOKWAVES
The Terror Triangle
(Washington, September 11-17, 2001)
In the early morning hours of September 11, 2001, the
unfolding terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of New York
and on the Pentagon in Washington, have caused considerable
flurry of activities at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
John Baker was one of the busiest of the agents. He was an
anti- terrorism expert and was considered by many as an expert
on Al-Qaeda. Baker travelled a few times to Northern
Afghanistan to seek assistance from the Northern Alliance to
track down the Al-Qaeda leadership. He was busy contacting
his associates and contacts in Pakistan, the Middle-East,
Europe, and off-course, in Afghanistan, searching for clues, to
help reveal the identity of the masterminds of the attacks. That
morning the FBI and CIA agents quickly obtained passenger
lists of the hijacked airliners and established that suspected al-
Qaeda operatives had been on board flights.
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Noor A Khalidi
John Baker suddenly remembered the message he
received two days earlier from the Northern Alliance reporting
the assassination of their charismatic leader Ahmad Shah
Massoud. He pulled the message out and read it once quickly
and then slowly the second time. The message read: "Pakistani
ISI-Osama-Taliban axis planned the assassination of Ahmad
Shah Massaoud carried out by Arab suicide bombers. We
believe that this is a triangle between the Taliban, Osama bin
Laden and the intelligence section of the Pakistani army." Then
Baker recalled similar remarks Massoud made during their
meeting on Baker‘s last visit to Panjshir Afghanistan earlier that
year in which he warned that ―The US should be aware of the
terror triangle of ISI-Osama-Taliban, if President Bush doesn't
help us, then the terrorists will harm America and Europe.‖
During last two days, Baker had received intercepted
communications between the suspected Al-Qaeda members
congratulating each other. One communication in particular,
from Dubai, caught his attention where a known Al-Qaeda
operative was confirming to a friend that ―The Sheikh has
asked the Arab brothers to help eliminate Ahmad Massoud,
who has harmed God. To fulfil the wishes of the Sheikh,
brothers in Europe, took upon themselves, to give a gift to
Omar.‖ Communications receiving that morning after the
attacks on the US bear similar congratulatory remarks. Baker
realised that the remarks were strikingly similar.
During the last two days, Baker was working hard on
the clues related to Massoud‘s assassination. He had asked the
Northern Alliance to pass on to him all the information about
the evidence they had on the Arab assassins, the equipment
they carried, etc. He also urged them to pass on the same to the
Interpol in Paris. Interpol confirmed that the passports carried
by the assassins were stolen. The assassins, in fact, were
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Dahmane Abd al-Sattar (posed as 34-year-old Karim Touzani,
the reporter), and Bouraoui el-Ouaer (Rachid Bourawi), (posed
as 26-year-old Kacem Bakkali, the fake cameraman) an illegal
immigrant to Belgium. The attackers claimed to be Belgians
originally from Morocco. However, their nationality was
determined to be Tunisian. Baker held information on
Dahmane Abd al-Sattar and knew that he was, in fact, an Al-
Qaeda operative in Belgium who received military training at
the Al-Qaeda Darunta base near Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan.
Baker realised that all the clues related to the New York
and Washington attacks bore Al-Qaeda stamps all over them.
Baker knew that Al-Qaeda was the only organization capable of
such spectacular, well-coordinated attacks. He briefed his
superiors about his conclusions and soon afterwards, the same
information was passed on by the CIA director to Vice-
President Cheney, who was pulling the strings, in the absence
of President Bush from Washington.
However, Baker was not sure if there were more attacks
to occur. French intelligence reported to the CIA that further
attacks were planned. Given this uncertainty, Baker activated
the Continuity of Government (COG) plan was shortly before
10:00 am accordingly the speaker of the House of
Representatives, the third in the command chain, was flown to
Bluemont, Virginia and the Capitol building was evacuated.
Most of the leaders of both parties were flown by military
helicopters to Mount Weather. This emergency facility in
Bluemont, Virginia, is located about 70 kilometres from
Washington, about 20 Minutes flight by helicopter. This facility
was built during the cold war era to house the government in
case of a nuclear attack. It is equipped with all the necessary
communication and command and control facilities. It is
believed that the facility can house over 4000 people. By then
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Noor A Khalidi
about 120 fighter planes were above US cities protecting
against any possible further acts of terrorism.
At 3:15 pm President Bush confers with his top
officials via video conference. After this meeting, John Baker
needed to get some straight answers from the State Department
officials who were present at the video conference, so he is
prepared to convey to the head of the Pakistan ISI, who
happened to be in Washington on that day. He was told that
―We told the Taliban that if anything like this happened, they
whill be held directly responsible. We make no difference
between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda now. They both go down
and tell the Pakistanis to get out of the way. We have to
eliminate the sanctuary.‖ At 7pm, after returning to
Washington, the same message was repeated by President Bush
in his address to the nation saying: ―We will make no
distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts
and those who harbor them‖ and later in a telephone call to
Pakistan President he tells Pervez Musharraf that he has to
choose between supporting or opposing the US. Apparently,
Musharraf promised immediate and unconditional support for
the United States and said he could stop Pakistan‘s support for
the Taliban.
The next day Baker took part in a meeting of top CIA
officials with the visiting British head of secret intelligence
service (MI6) and Britain‘s head of the domestic intelligence
service (MI5) and Prime Minister Tony Blair‘s foreign policy
adviser. Baker and other CIA officials say to the British
counterparts that they are already certain that al-Qaeda was
behind the attacks and say the attacks may not be yet over. At
the end, of the meeting they all agree to concentrate on
Afghanistan and not to launch any attacks on Iraq, as was
suggested by some including Donald Rumsfeld.
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John Baker spent the night in his office working hard
with his colleagues and superiors on a plan of action for
tracking down Osama bin Laden and toppling the Taliban in
Afghanistan and confronting terrorism worldwide. The plan
was submitted to President Bush on September 13.
Subsequently Baker, on September 14, accompanied Deputy
Secretary of State and met Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, the
head of the Pakistani ISI, who was in Washington at the time,
and demanded absolute Pakistani cooperation with the US to
oust the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and to destroy the
Al-Qaeda bases there.
On September 15, 2001, John Baker accompanied the
CIA leadership at the full meeting of the National Security
Council, where the CIA plan involving stepping up direct
support substantially to the Northern Alliance and other
Afghan opposition groups was presented. The strategy was
advocating the deployment of the US Special Forces Teams to
help the Afghan opposition forces repel the Taliban step by
step from main cities. The US Special Forces teams would
organise logistical and command and control support for the
local Afghan militia and would direct close US air support to
destroy the Taliban positions. The plan calls for moving first
against the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, and opening up the
border with Uzbekistan. Similar fronts could be opened, in the
South and West. The CIA plan sought substantial powers to
pursue its worldwide anti terrorism campaign successfully. The
following Monday, September 17, 2001, John Baker learned
with much joy and delight that President Bush had granted all
the requests made by the CIA at the Camp David meeting.
The US formal response to our communiqué from the
Northern Alliance regarding the assassination of Commander
Massoud arrived over two weeks later, with the arrival of the
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Jawbreakers, after the lightning which struck Khwaja
Bahauddin was followed by a thunder storm in the United
States. Only then, apparently, the shut eyes in Washington
opened and the deaf ears started to comprehend the links
between the lightning and the thunder storm. By then we knew
the assassination of commander Massoud was a gift from the
Al-Qaeda Leader to the Taliban leadership, to secure their
protection in the most likely occasion of the US retaliatory
strikes.
***
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Camp K2 Uzbekistan
In mid October 2001, Major Dillon was asked to move
to Camp K2 base in southern Uzbekistan in central Asia with
his battalion of three US Special Forces Alpha teams.
Uzbekistan is located to the North of Afghanistan where Amu
Darya provides the border. In fact, Dillon‘s Battalion was
among the first US Special Forces and CIA teams that arrived
at the base.
Camp K2, as it was nicknamed by the US Air Force,
was the centre of lots of military activities, those days.
Squadrons of US air force bombers, transport and refuelling
aircraft were hastily relocating there. Two Divisions of the US
marines were also deployed at locations not far from in the
base. The US Forces started arriving at the base after Russian
President, Vladimir Putin, and President Bush agreed on terms
that allowed the US to use the former Soviet base in Central
Asia in its imminent operations to overthrow Taliban from
power in Afghanistan.
At the Camp, the US Special Forces Alpha teams were
continuing their training during the days and attending
numerous briefing sessions during the night. The first briefing
session on the night of October 18 was immensely interesting
for Major Dillon. That night he led members of his battalion,
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Noor A Khalidi
the three Alpha-teams, into the briefing room joining members
of the two other Special Forces Battalions already present.
Large-scale maps of Afghanistan were hanging from walls all
around the room. The session was opened by the US Army‘s
5th Special Forces Group Commander, General Jeffery
Roberts, who had arrived from the US Central Command
(Centcom) Headquarters in Tampa Florida to attend this
meeting.
General Roberts said, ―the United States have
concluded that the masterminds of the recent terrible terrorist
attacks on our country are the Al Qaeda organisation, and in
particular, its leader Osama bin Laden. Our enemies, the
enemies of our democracy and our way of life have taken
shelter in Afghanistan. The Taliban regime in that country has
provided a safe haven for bin Laden and his terrorists,
apparently for his past role in fighting with the mujahedin to
oust the Russians from Afghanistan, and because of his current
financial and Arab volunteers support. The Taliban has ignored
our calls to hand over the leadership of this organisation to us.
Therefore, we are left with no choice but to go to War to get
them and destroy all terrorist bases and training camps in that
Afghanistan. However, I should add, there will not be a large
scale invasion force entering Afghanistan. You are the ones
who will help Afghans get rid of the Taliban regime and in the
process, capturing or killing the Al Qaeda operatives in that
county‖.
General Roberts concluded, ―Agents from the CIA
present here will provide you with the necessary local
knowledge to help you with your missions. Pay utmost
attention to the details being provided to you. Those details will
provide you with the edge and I wish you good luck in your
missions.‖
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Then a team of three CIA agents from the CIA‘s Al-
Qaeda hunting squad, known as ―the Jawbreakers‖ conducted
the detailed briefing sessions and responded to questions. The
CIA team included John Baker, John Hamilton, and Bob
Moore, an athletic 28-year-old man from New Jersey.
Pointing to a small enclave in the north-eastern
Afghanistan bordering Tajikistan, John Baker said ―this is the
only area in the country currently not under the Taliban
control. The rest of the country is governed by the Taliban
supported by the Al Qaeda which has not been recognised
internationally as the legitimate government of Afghanistan but
only by Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. However, we
have secured the backing of those two countries as well to
remove the Taliban from power. On the other hand, the
Northern Alliance, those who control the north-eastern enclave
is recognised by the rest of the world as the legitimate
government of Afghanistan, who were ousted from power in
Kabul by the Taliban in 1996.‖ John further said that ―our task
is to help a legitimate government, one representing the
interests of all Afghans, take control of the country. Taliban
are a small minority with a very rigid ideology and narrow
minded interpretation of Islam which is alien to the more
moderate and tolerant Islam practiced by the vast majority of
Afghan people.‖ He elaborated that ―most of Taliban are
students from Islamic schools or ‗Madrasas‘ in Pakistan who
grew up in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in border areas
with Afghanistan. Growing up in the refugee camps in
Pakistan, being thought in Urdu by the most fundamentalist
Wahabi Mullahs, many of them do not of even speak the local
Afghan languages. Most of Taliban have no connection and
real idea of Afghan history. They do not share real sense of
Afghan identity and culture. On top of all this, they belong to a
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Noor A Khalidi
minority ethnic group, Kandahari Pashtoons from South
Eastern Afghanistan. They are inspired by constant slogans of
Jihad against the infidels by the Al Qaeda and their
sympathisers.‖
John said, ―We believe there are adequate opposition
forces all around the country ready to fight the Taliban and
remove them from power. Our task is to help them organise,
equip and mobilise in the right directions.‖ He further said, ―we
will provide Afghan opposition forces with logistical, command
and control, tactical and air support while depriving the Taliban
from receiving similar support they used to enjoy from
Pakistan. That way we will help remove them from power in a
very short time span with minimum casualties to the US
Forces.‖
Dillon asked, ―If they are what you say then how they
came to power and retained it for seven years?‖
―Good question,‖ answered John. ―They came to
power during a time when real chaos, lawlessness and insecurity
were the order of the day in Afghanistan. The warlords,
forming the post communist Mujahidin government in
Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, turned the country into small
fiefdoms of influence with no central government authority to
provide basic security for the population.‖ John added ―Once
this chaotic situation jeopardised the safety of the
transportation routes from Pakistan to the newly independent
countries of the Central Asia, and hence, undermined the
business interests of Pakistan, the main backers of the
Mujahidin, she decided to replace them with a strong
government who could provide the trade routes security.
Recruited by the Pakistani intelligence and security agencies,
soon the Taliban demonstrated around Kandahar, very
36 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
efficiently and effectively, that they can provide an iron fisted
security and strong government.‖
John went on to elaborate ―Being fed-up with the chaos
of the Mujahidin Warlords regime, people welcomed the
security being provided by the Taliban. Hence, from Kandahar,
with the generous support of Pakistan, the Taliban fought and
bought their way all over the South, West and East of the
country to main cities of Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad in a matter
of months and soon took over the capital Kabul.‖ John said
―The remnants of the Mujahidin government fled to the North.
However, Taliban suffered their heaviest casualties around the
city of Mazar-i-Sharif once they tried to pacify the North an
alien territory to the Kandahari Pashtoons.‖
―Are we going to help bring back to power the regime
of Mujahidin Warlords, which proved disastrous for people of
Afghanistan the first time they were in power?‖ inquired
Dillon.
―No we are not,‖ answered John. ―We will not repeat
the mistake we made in 1991,‖ added John. ―At that time, after
spending billions of dollars ending the occupation of
Afghanistan by the then Soviet Union and causing the collapse
of the regime it left behind, we simply lost further interest in
Afghanistan and left it to its own fate and gave Pakistan, an ally
against the Soviet occupiers, an open hand to pursue its
interests in the country which proved a grave strategic mistake
on our part.‖ ―This time, we will help Afghan people form a
government representing the interests of all Afghan people and
we will stay on to help such a government consolidate its roots
in the country,‖ elaborated John.
John further said ―With the backing of the deposed
King Zahir Shah, now in exile, in Italy, we have already started
the process of bringing together all the political forces of
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Noor A Khalidi
Afghanistan to form a post-Taliban government of national
unity based on the democratic elements of the counrty‘s 1963
constitution.‖
Looking at John, Dillon thought his answers and
elaborations were making sense and nodded so. Noticing
Dillon‘s satisfaction, John moved towards a large map hanging
on the wall. Using his laser pointer John circled five areas on
the map and said ―These are the areas from where Afghan
opposition forces are going to be mobilised against the Taliban.
Around south and west of Mazar-i-Sharif, around the city of
Herat in the west, around Tarin Kowt in Urozgan Province, in
the south, and around Logar, close the Capital Kabul. Your
Alpha-teams will be assigned to provide support to local
opposition commanders in these areas. The agency is already in
touch with those commanders and we have started providing
them with the means of recruiting more and more soldiers. The
agency will help you connect with the local commanders
swiftly. However, remember, these will be very low profile
operations. There won‘t be any CNN or similar media cameras
around you to glorify your activities. You will not even be
wearing the Uniforms of the US Army. You will dress locally
and will incorporate with local fighters as you see fit,‖ he
further said.
Over the course of three subsequent night briefing
sessions, provided separately to each of the Special forces
battalions, the local conditions of their areas of operation were
discussed in detail and information about the local commanders
were provided to them by the agents.
Dillon‘s battalion was assigned to help local opposition
commanders moving from central Afghanistan in the direction
of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, and from areas just
south of the Hindukosh Mountains in Urozgan province
38 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
towards south in the direction of Kandahar, the mother land
and sentimental headquarters of the Taliban.
Dillon decided to deploy Captain Anthony Hagan‘s
Alpha-team 344 in the south and Captain Charles Brown, the
man with Harley Davison cap, and his A-team 555 in the north.
He left the third team, Special Forces Alpha-team 666, on a
standby position at Camp K2. Dillon also decided that to
accompany Alpha team-555 in the north as according to the
agency sources, the opposition forces there were the most
organised, eager and most likely to be the first to defeat the
Taliban in the north and capture the main city of the northern
plains, Mazar-i-Sharif.
***
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 39
Noor A Khalidi
Hapless time in Afghanistan
I first met Dillon when he arrived in Panjshir in
preparation for his Special Forces Teams deployment to the
Northern front. I greeted him on his arrival. He had his Special
Forces camouflage uniform on.
―Welcome Commander, my name is Daoud Afghanyar.
You may call me simply Daoud. I am the liaison officer for the
alliance forces with the US Special Forces commander. You
may consider as your local ears and eyes!!‖
Dillon clearly amused by my greetings extended his
hand ―Dillon, Major Mike Dillon!‘
While shaking his hand I responded ―Oh, I was not
expecting an officer in the services of her Majesty the Queen of
Britain!‖ referring to the character James Bond.
―Rest assure you that I am an officer of the US Special
Forces‖ he said and added:
―You speak real good English, Daoud!‖
―Well I did learn English when I was at high school and
later by completing the English Language courses offered by
the American Centre and the British Council in Kabul, as well
as while studying in India and living many years in Canada.‖
40 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
―I am glad to hear that.‖ Then Dillon asked ―are you an
army officer?‘
―No Sir. I am a civilian, though had one year military
training as an Afghan Army Reserve Officer years back in 1974.
In fact all male university graduates were supposed to undergo
such training.‖
―That will be a great help adjusting to circumstances, I
suppose,‖ said Dillon and added ―please call me Dillon.‖
―Sure. Please feel free to ask me any question you may
have. I do know a little bit about my country and my people.
We are here to work as a team, though, you will be calling the
shots I suppose!‖ I responded with a smile.
With the affirmation that the US will actively get
involved in supporting the Northern Alliance to remove the
Taliban from power in Afghanistan, my position with the
Northern Alliance got elevated taking into consideration the
trust Massoud showed in me before his assassination. With
General Fahim assuming the military command, Younus
Qanoni taking the political leadership and Abdullah Abdullah
attending to the diplomatic and media front, I was trusted the
dual responsibility of networking with other national alliance
leaders in the northern, western, southern and eastern fronts as
I spoke both of the national languages, Dari and Pashto
fluently and was not involved with any particular militia
grouping in the past. On top of that with my knowledge of
English and the western world, I was trusted with providing
liaison activities on behalf of the alliance with the American and
other western forces that were expected to become involved in
Afghanistan on our side of the front. I was issued with a
satellite phone to be kept informed of the development in all
fronts and to be able to communicate with the alliance
leadership and contacts around the country.
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 41
Noor A Khalidi
Dillon was keen to learn as much as he could about
Afghanistan and about me in a short time. So I confessed to
him that my arrival to the Northern Alliance held areas was
accidental. I explained that after finishing Kabul University I
joined the Afghan government public service and worked in
various capacities and that after leaving the country and living
in Canada, I was following anxiously the events in Afghanistan.
He was anxious to learn how I returned back to
Afghanistan after living many years in Canada. So I was taking
advantage of any spare time and telling him about myself and
about eh situation in the country.
I heard that my mother was sick in Kabul and that she
wanted me to pay her a visit. I was the eldest son, and after the
death of my father, though well settled in Canada, I was still
regarded as the patriarch of our extended family. I had not seen
my mother for some years then. The last time I saw her was in
Virginia where she used to live with my sister. However, she
became bored of long lonely days while my sister and her
husband were at work and the kids at school. She did not speak
English so her only friend, the Television, was speaking to her
in a language she couldn‘t understand. So, once the Taliban
removed the chaos and anarchy regime of the Mujahidin from
power and Kabul became once again safe, in 1996, she decided
to return to Kabul where she could live with my brother and
his family and she could enjoy the company of her sister and
her family and other close relatives.
Soon I found myself, on my way to Kabul via London,
Bahrain and Peshawar. It was May 2000, and on the Gulf Air
flight from Bahrain to Peshawar seated next to me was a
middle aged Pakistani man. I asked him where he was from.
42 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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―I am Professor Mehmood Shaukat from Pakistan, but
living in the UK. I am a university lecturer at Oxford, returning
to Pakistan for holidays‖ he answered.
―I am an Afghan but living in Canada‖ I said.
He was happy to talk to an Afghan intellectual.
―I like Afghan people. They are very honest and
hospitable.‖ Mehmood commented.
―I am glad to hear that. I guess we, the Afghans, should
be thankful to the hospitality extended to millions of our
refugees who got shelter here in Pakistan for a long time now,
since 1978 I suppose‖.
―You would have done the same to us, I am sure.‖
―So you are from the land of Iqbal, Imran Khan, Mehdi
Hassan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto‖ I complemented referring to a
legendary poet a legendary cricketer, a legendary musician and
the most famous Pakistani politician.
―No my friend, I am from the land of Marshal Ayub
Khan, General Yahya Khan, General Zia-ul-Haqq and General
Pervez Musharraf‖, referring to the military dictators that ruled
Pakistan since its creation in 1947. He continued:
―There is an Army which has a country called Pakistan
and we Pakistani civilians happened to live in it.‖
―Weren‘t the accusations of corruption and inefficiency
labelled towards the civilian government of Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif! I hear some Pakistani people were happy to see
an iron fisted government in power again.‖
―This is what they always say to justify their actions. If
experience has any validity here, a certain general is always
waiting in the wings to take over. The army consumes over
sixty percent of the national budget. They always drum up anti-
Indian and extremist Islamic rhetoric to justify their existence.
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 43
Noor A Khalidi
The generals, in particular, Pervez Musharraf himself, almost
took us to the brink of a nuclear war with India recently.‖
I was interested to hear his views about the Taliban. So
I asked:
―What do you think of the Taliban in Afghanistan?‖
He looked at me and sighed:
―I am so sorry for your people. What happened to your
country is unimaginable. When I was young, I used to go to
Kabul every year together with a group of my friends, during
Afghanistan‘s Independence Day celebrations Jashn-i-Esteqlal a
week of celebrations in August.‖ ―Is that right?‖ I nodded.
―Yes my friend, for us living in a male dominated
deeply religious society of Pakistan, Kabul of the 1960s and 70s
was like Paris. Women, young girls walking on the streets alone
in European outfits, couples hand in hand, families going to all
those magnificent shows, concerts, cinemas and international
football and other sporting tournaments all fascinated us. We
used to go to Kabul movie theatres and watch the latest Indian
movies, as they were banned in Pakistan. My God, when I
visited Kabul University compound one day, the scenes of girls
in their mini-skirts walking around or sitting on the lawns with
their male classmates, pretty much similar to what I see now at
Oxford in the UK, were mind blowing to us.‖ ―Yes we were
living in a very liberal society then.‖ I commented.
―Now we turned your country to be just like us.
Perhaps we could not tolerate a liberal and modern Afghanistan
on our footsteps. Since the formation, of the Mujahidin
government in Kabul, whose leaders lived many years in
Pakistan, Afghan politicians have abandoned the European
outfits and wear Pakistani National dress code of Shalwar and
Kamis. Our Madrassa students now rule your country. Kabul
University has purged its girl students and female lecturers and
44 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
staff. I heard your armed forces were dismantled by orders
from Nawaz Sharif, our Prime Minister in 1992. When in
Kabul for Jashn-i-Esteqlal we used to watch the Afghan army
and the air force parade on the first day of the celebrations.
They looked very impressive to us.‖
―I guess those days look like a very distant memory
now.‖ I commented. Then I repeated my question ―What do
you think of the Taliban?‖
―Taliban, to be frank the Taliban Government in
Afghanistan is in fact the extension of the Pakistan‘s rule into
Afghanistan. You might remember General Hamid Gul, the
former chief of the ISI who desired to see Kabul burning one
day. He is proudly boasting to be the Taliban movement‘s
father and Benazir Bhutto was credited as their mother. Now it
seems that the Pakistan army has two countries instead of one.
The first one is run by the army itself and the second one by its
intelligence service.‖
―But the Taliban government is ruled by Mullah
Mohammad Omar, an Afghan Kandahari Pashtoon‖. I
commented.
―Have you ever seen him live or on TV? Have you
heard his voice or seen his picture? Have you read an interview
he had given to a journalist? Have you ever heard him meeting
even Pakistan‘s President, his supposedly most close ally?
Actually, no one seems to know him. A ghost, an invisible man!
How is it possible to rule a country without being seen or
heard? There might as well be a real man who has no idea of
the modern world, named Mullah Omar. But is he the actual
ruler of Afghanistan? Don‘t forget the Taliban‘s father, a retired
General Hamid Gul, is still around.‖
To be frank, his answers made a lot of sense and were
very revealing. I asked: ―What do you think of the future for
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 45
Noor A Khalidi
us? Is there hope for us?‖ He apologetically shook his head ―I
am really worried my friend. Not for Afghanistan where not
much worse can be possibly done with it anymore, but I am
worried for my own Pakistan. With hundreds of thousand
madrassa students graduate every year in Pakistan who are
equipped with ultra radical Islamic Jihadi ideas and
experiencing Jihad actions in Afghanistan, it won‘t be too far
that they would find Pakistan itself as perhaps a better prey! We
seem to be sleeping with a poisonous snake which will
eventually bite us.‖
I was really impressed and alarmed listening to Him.
He opened my eyes to certain new realities. After arriving in
Peshawar, I stayed with my brother-in-law and his family who
were still refugees there. He said I cannot possibly go to Kabul
as a clean shaved person. The Taliban would harass and
humiliate me without a beard. They will not even tolerate a
small nicely trimmed and shaped beard. I had to grow a dense
naturally shaped beared of at least the full length of my hand
palm. That was a difficult proposition. I had to stay at least a
few months in Peshawar to be able to grow such a beard. While
impatiently waiting to grow a beard, I was going around in
Peshawar wearing Shalwar and Kamis outfit and a turban, for
the first time in my life, a turban as the local Taliban did not
like bear headed men!
Exploring Peshawar, I noticed near total absence of
women, music and video shops on the streets and the closure
of the public cinemas. In 1994, on my first visit, the city was
full of music and video shops and the sound of music could be
heard everywhere. Instead, this time around the shops were fast
selling T-shirts with photos of bin Laden printed on them. I
found Osama bin Laden, the CIA's counter-terrorism enemy
number 1, as a superstar in Pakistan. For many locals, he was
46 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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the ‗World Hero‘ and ‗The Great Mujahid‘. There were Osama
mugs and an Osama video, the only video allowed, in which he
was preaching in a mosque and was talking to his faithful
Jihadis in the field.
Riding on the public bus one day the bus abruptly
stopped in the middle of the street and people, including the
driver himself, rushed to disembark. I thought there might have
been a bomb treat or something so the people wanted to leave
the bus as fast as they could. But to my surprise I noticed that
they rushed to attend to afternoon prayers offered on the side
walk adjacent to a mosque. I had never experienced such thing
in Afghanistan. Such growth of the religious fanaticism in the
city in only six years amazed me.
At last I managed to grow some beard and headed to
Kabul. It was almost mid-day, when the mini-bus or popularly
known as the flying coaches, I was travelling by from Peshawar
to Kabul arrived at the Torkham border post just inside
Afghanistan in the eastern Nangarhar Province. After a brief
lunch, all the bus passengers attended the afternoon prayers led
by a local Mullah. Soon after we boarded the bus and headed
towards Jalalabad. After half an hour driving, we were stopped
at a Taliban checkpoint. The dark black bearded and black
turbaned Taliban soldiers boarded the bus, checked out
passengers and then ordered all out. Once everybody
disembarked, they asked the passengers to attend to the
afternoon prayers. Passengers complain that they had already
attended to the afternoon prayers almost caused them the
humiliation of being beaten by the Taliban. So they gave up,
and everybody attended the second offerings of the afternoon
prayers to God.
While getting back on the bus, I was stopped by a Talib,
and he grabbed my recently grown beard with his hand and
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 47
Noor A Khalidi
pulled it hard while shouting that beard was not according to
the Sharia laws! I promised that it would be soon. Then I
noticed another Talib was doing the same to an Uzbek who
was a carpet trader with shops in Kabul and Peshawar. The
poor Uzbek could not possibly grow, a dense long beard,
because of his natural body genetics. He shouted in Dari
language trying to explain this to the Talib. The Talib, a
Kandahari Pashtoon, asked him to speak in Pashto. As soon as
the Uzbek replied that he did not speak Pashto, the Talib
slapped him hard on the face and told him that he must learn
to speak Pashto. The poor Uzbek promised that he would learn
Pashto as soon as possible. Then the Talib did something that I
would never have imagined and no one warned me about it
before. He asked poor Uzbek to pull up his shirt, a long Kamis,
and then he checked out to see if his under arm pit hair is
shaven or not and then slipped his hand under the belt of his
Tunban, the loose baggy cotton trousers, to check if he had his
pubic hair shaved or not. Unfortunately for the poor Uzbek he
failed both tests and he had to endure further beating and
humiliation.
Back on board the flying coach, I sat stunned and
clearly shaken. I thought I should be thankful to the Talib who
just let me go with only checking the length of my beard.
Though I speak Pashto, that day I would have failed the other
two tests. ―Welcome to the land of the Taliban‖, said to me a
fellow passenger who was seated next to me. His name was
Abdul Qader, a 35 year old local man from Shinwar, a district
of the Nangarhar Province. Looking at my stunned pale face he
said ―the Talib who beat the Uzbek was an administrator of the
Amr bel Maaruf Man bel Monker.‖ I asked him if he could
explain. He answered ―It is the Committee for the Promotion
of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, who patrols the streets of
48 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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the cities and highways looking for those who stray outside the
narrow confines of the Taliban laws.‖
At last the minibus was on its way to Jalalabad, the
provincial capital, the destination of the first leg of our journey
to Kabul. It is only about 70 kilometres, which used to be a
mere one hour drive in the good old days. I remember in 1975,
I watched from the side of the road the London to Sydney
touring cars Marathon raced past me along this very road near
Jalalabad airport. However, it was almost hard to trace the
remnants of the old asphalted highway anymore. Nearly every
concrete flood way structure of the road was blown up. The
driver had to carefully manoeuvre the minibus around the
craters on the mud to get back on the road. I asked Qader what
has happened to the road. He said the road had experienced
years of heavy fighting between the Mujahidin and the passing
Soviet or Afghan army convoys during the jihad years of 1979-
1992. He said the Mujahidin planted bombs under the concrete
flood way structures of the road to destroy the passing military
convoys. He also said frequent use of the road by heavy tanks
and the explosion of thousands of the road side bombs ruined
the road. Though Jihad was over since 1992 and the Taliban in
power since 1996, it seemed that, attention to the maintenance
of the highways and other infrastructure was the least of
priorities for the Taliban Government.
When we got to a place called Ghazi Abad, I was
saddened by what I saw as the remnants of thousands of
hectares of the green olive farms once stood there. The old
farms were dotted with huge craters and large tracts of treeless
plains. I mentioned to Qader that I had been there at it‘s hey
days.
He said: ―This place was, in fact, the ground of a major
battle between the Afghan army and the Mujahidin. In May
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 49
Noor A Khalidi
1989 after the Soviet Red Army units left Afghanistan, the
combined forces of the Afghan Mujahidin groups laid siege to
capture Jalalabad and move onto Kabul to unseat Dr.
Najibullah. I was at the time part of the Mujahidin fighters of
Mowlavi Younus Khalis. Deviating from the customary hit and
run tactics of the guerrilla warfare, in fact, it was the first
frontal assault the Mujahidin had staged to defeat the Afghan
army, which everyone in Peshawar thought would have no
chance to withstand in the absence of the Red Army. To the
surprise of everyone, the Afghan Army was not only able to
resist, but to inflict a heavy defeat on the Mujahidin forces,
from which they hardly recovered.‖
―How come they did not recover while Mujahidin
eventually defeated Dr. Najibullah in 1992?‖ I asked.
―Not really defeat. Dr. Najibullah simply run-out of
resources. The economy was in ruins and no government
income from imports and exports duty and other sources
anymore. Combined with lack of continued economic support
he enjoyed prior to this from the Soviets, he had no choice but
to give up to the demands and hand over the government to
the Mujahidin, under an agreement reached in Geneva.‖ It was
an interesting observation I thought.
Finally, after an agonising three hours drive, we arrived
in Jalalabad were we spent the night. Early next day the flying
coach moving at the pace of a tractor was on its way to Kabul.
Soon we were driving along the shores of a man-made lake
created behind a hydroelectric power dam at Darunta in the
outskirts of the city. Along the road I saw many locals selling
fish to the passing by passengers. I remembered the fish was
introduced by the Chinese in the lake soon after the dam‘s
construction in the early 1960s by the Soviets. Pointing to a hill
at the other side of the lake, covered with lots of green leaved
50 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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trees, my fellow passenger Qader said, ―There is a large Arab
military training camp over there which belongs to Bin Laden‖.
After another two hours of agonising journey, we
arrived at Sarobi, on the shores of another man-made lake
created behind a large hydroelectric power dam built by the
Germans in the 1950s. There were in fact, four such
hydroelectric power dams built on the Kabul River between
Kabul and Jalalabad. From Sarobi, the driver took the long old
unpaved road which was known as Lataband to Kabul instead
of the Mahipar Highway. I had not travelled on this road since
my childhood. This was the road where years back, before I
was even born, a teenage step-sister of mine leaning on the
door fell to her death from a moving bus while on her way with
my father and step mother to Kabul.
―Qader, tell me why the driver is not taking the shorter
Mahipar Highway to Kabul!‖ I asked.
―With all those road side bombings, the Mahipar
Highway, with its steep climb, turns and twists and numerous
tunnels high up in the very steep wall like slopes of the
mountains, was not safe anymore. The road has not yet been
repaired by the Taliban. Therefore, instead, the drivers prefer
the old Lataband road,‖ replied Qader.
It was well past midday when the driver announced that
he would stop at Gandomak for lunch and the afternoon
prayers. Deep inside me, the name Gandomak aroused
conflicting feelings of pride and sadness. This was the place
where during the first Anglo-Afghan War, in 1842 the entire
British Colonial Armies of General Elphinstone were wiped out
by the Afghan Ghilzai tribal freedom fighters, the tribe of my
father. The retreating army on their way to Jalalabad consisted
of 690 British soldiers, 2,840 Indian soldiers and 12,000
followers and family members were all killed bar a single man, a
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 51
Noor A Khalidi
Dr. Brydon, who reported the news to the British in Jalalabad.
The annihilation of the British Kabul garrison, which only
rivalled by the fall of the British Singapore 100 years later to the
Japanese, caused a profound shock throughout the British
Empire including Lord Auckland, the then British Viceroy of
India suffering a stroke.
Thirty-seven years later during the Second Anglo-
Afghan War in May 1879, not coincidentally I would assume,
Gandomak was also the site where Amir Yaqub Khan signed
the Treaty of Gandomak with the British to prevent a British
invasion of all of Afghanistan. According to this agreement, in
return for an annual subsidy, control of Afghan foreign affairs
was relinquished to the British by Amir Yaqub Khan. British
representatives were installed in Kabul and other locations,
British India was extended from Attok on the Indus to the
Khyber, and Afghanistan ceded various frontier areas to Britain
including the present day Northwest Frontier Province of
Pakistan.
From Gandomak, the minibus made its way through
the Lataband Pass and on to Kabul. The journey from Jalalabad
to Kabul took a full day. It is only 165kms via the Mahipar
Highway. In the good old days, it was a comfortable two hours
drive on a first-class highway.
From the bus station on the eastern outskirts of the
city, I took a taxi to my brother‘s house. Turning into Jaada-i-
Maiwand, a six lane main street in the city heart, I could not
believe what was left of the buildings that stood on two sides of
this five kilometres long street. It looked like the bombed
Berlin at the end of the World War II. Only buildings skeleton
were standing. When the driver saw my face, he said, ―The city
was ruined by Hekmatyar‘s artillery bombardment in 1992, after
the Mujahidin took control of the city from Dr. Najibullah.
52 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
Dostum‘s Uzbek militia controlled this part of the city then.‖ It
was so sad to see Kabul in ruins. On its heyday Jaada-i-
Maiwand was bursting with life and business.
Driving along the street, I wondered why the taxi driver
kept driving so slowly behind a Crane Truck. I was sitting at the
back seat. When I complained the driver said ―don‘t you see
what is in front of us?‖ I answered ―Yes a crane truck.‖ Then
the driver said ―don‘t you see what is hanging from the crane?‖
I wined the window down and looked up and there it was. A
man his hands tied behind his back hanging by the neck from
the crane and the crane truck taking him around the city streets.
It was a shocking scene. The driver explained that the Taliban
frequently make such public displays of their executions to
discourage those who do not adhere to their laws. I asked the
driver to take me by some other way to my destination as
quickly as he could and promised to pay him more than the
normal fare. He obliged.
My mother was suffering from kidney problem as well
as high levels of sugar. The next day I took her to Aliabad
Hospital. On our way to the hospital on a taxi, we were
stopped three times by the Taliban Amr bel Maaruf
administrators, checking to see if I was a Mahram, close relative
such as husband, son, brother, uncle, travelling in a taxi with a
woman. Under the Taliban rules, a woman cannot go out by
herself unless accompanied by a Mahram. This is a rule only
practiced in Saudi Arabia. The hospital could not take her
because it did not have female staff. Again, under the Taliban
rules, a woman patient can only be checked by a female doctor.
I was asked to take her to the city‘s only devoted women‘s
hospital. Apparently she was suffering from chronic, renal
failure which is the most common type of kidney damage
requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation. However, she was
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 53
Noor A Khalidi
refused treatment as this hospital did not have any functioning
dialysis equipment.
I was desperate to provide medical care for my mother,
so I went to the Ministry of Public Health a place I knew very
well as I worked there in the past. I found the Ministry a ghost
like place, invaded by people who seemed have died some 1000
year before and now woken up from their graves. There was no
furniture in the offices. The few staff, all of them bearded
males and wearing turbans, was sitting on the mattresses on the
floors. My inquiry to find a medical facility with functioning
dialysis equipment was fruitless. No one even knew what
dialysis equipment was. I found out that some staff could not
even read or write in the local languages. Fifteen years ago the
Ministry was bursting with activities. Then, over 60 percent of
the staff was females because many young males were recruited
by the army. A fleet of at least 50 cars were serving the Ministry
then. The Ministry was well equipped with furniture and
communication equipment and supported by experts from the
World Health Organisation and the UNICEF. Then we had a
large department devoted to Mother & Child Health and a
dedicated Family Planning Department. It was a shame we have
lost all of that, and now to put up with a bunch of illiterate,
ignorant alien invaders.
Returning home, I decided to send my mother to
Pakistan to receive medical treatment. Therefore, the next day I
asked my younger brother to take her to Peshawar. I hired a
taxi to take them from Kabul all the way to Peshawar. I also
gave my brother enough cash to cover the medical and living
costs while in Pakistan.
With my mother gone to Peshawar, I found time to
explore Kabul a little bit more. Driving around the city and
wondering in its bazaars and markets I could not relate to the
54 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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citizens anymore. When I left Kabul in 1985, it had a
population of 1.5 million most of them grew up all their lives in
the city. At the time city streets were full of heavy traffic.
Thousands of private enterprise Mercedes Benz city busses and
Indian built Tata public busses combined with thousands of
Yellow and White Taxis and Rickshaws, coloured the city
streets, some run by female drivers. Some parts of the city were
serviced by electric busses powered by the overhead
powerlines. Cinemas were screening Indian, Iranian and
Hollywood movies, restaurants were full of people, Kabul
University, other numerous higher education institutions and
schools were in full swing. Men and women, the majority in
western dress, were freely roaming the city streets. In the banks
and department stores young girls were servicing customers.
Television programs included western serial shows, musical
programs and screening of movies. Some of the news
presenters on the National Television were beautiful women
with the latest Western hair and fashion styles.
In contrast, the Kabul I found under the Taliban was a
ghost like place. Apart from a skeleton, the city‘s public
transport system was completely gone. The city streets were
mostly deserted from people and from private vehicles and not
many taxis could be seen either. The original Kabul urban
dwellers, the professional public servants, the educated, the
professionals, the doctors, the specialists, university professors,
the engineers, the teachers, were all gone, some to Pakistan, and
most settled in Western Europe, the United States, Canada and
Australia. The new citizens were mostly villagers who moved in
from the countryside. Very few women were on the streets,
only in the company of their close relative males and wearing
all encompassed Chaderi. The Television station was closed and
playing video and audio cassettes were forbidden. Photo shops
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Noor A Khalidi
were closed as photography of living creatures were banned.
The city‘s telephone network had almost collapsed long before,
and there was not a single mobile phone network.
It was not the Taliban‘s fault alone. The main culprit
was the Mujahidin government who preceded the Taliban. With
the national Afghan army and police force dismantled by the
first Mujahidin Government under instruction from Pakistan,
the Mujahidin War Lords rag-tag militia divided Kabul and the
country into their small fiefdoms. They were all fighting each
other for territory, while being members of the same
administration. First, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (foreign Minister)
was against Massoud and Dostum (Defence Minister and the
Army Chief). Then, Sayyaf a Pashtoon started fighting against
the Hazara militia of Karim Khalili. Then Massoud‘s Panjshiri
militia started to fight Dostum‘s Uzbek militia. Lootings, raping
of women, killings of the innocent civilians just for being a
Hazara, Pashtoon, a Panjshiri or an Uzbek, made the city, and,
in fact, the whole country for four years a hellish place for the
population. No wonder when the Taliban kicked these
murderers and rapists out of the city, Kabul residents
welcomed them by their open arms.
Unfortunately, the true nature of the Taliban soon
became clear to the people of Afghanistan. The Taliban seemed
to have only one agenda, in the name of creating a pure Islamic
society, imposing the Arabian Peninsula‘s cultural laws and
rules dated 1400 years back, with no resemblance to the Islam
faith practiced in this country for centuries. The Taliban have
turned Kabul and the rest of the country into a hell for the
people to live particularly for women.
While in Kabul, one day a relative invited me to his
house where I met Nadeem Oriakhil. He had just returned
from Panjshir. I knew Nadeem personally very well as we grew
56 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
up in the same neighbourhood in Kabul and went to the same
Ghazi high school together. Though a Pashtoon from the
Paghman district of Kabul, he was a close associate and
supporter of Ahmad Shah Massoud. He joined Massoud when
he was fighting the pro soviet governments of the late 70s and
1980s. That night we talked over everything, from the current
politics to future aspirations and Massoud‘s plans for a post
Taliban government. It seemed they had learned their lessons.
He encouraged me to visit Panjshir and to talk to Massoud. He
thought, with my knowledge, education, work background and
overseas experience, I would be an invaluable source of
support for Massoud‘s struggle. He said, ―Come with me to
Panjshir, talk to Massoud and his close colleagues and then
decide what to do next, whether to stay and become involved
in efforts to bring about a broad-based government and the
rule of law or go back to Canada.‖
Reviewing Massoud‘s path during the last two decades,
I found him to be an astute military strategist, a most pragmatic
national politician, and a moderate Islamist, if at all, among the
hawkish. No matter how much my political views were
different to those of Massoud‘s, and no matter how much I
despise the four years rule of the country by the Mujahidin
government, I decided that supporting Massoud in his struggle
to resist the Taliban was a noble cause. I thought if Massoud‘s
activities were synchronized with efforts by King Mohammad
Zahir Shah in exile, in Italy, they would be the only hope for
people of Afghanistan moving back to civilisation. I viewed
King Zahir Shah‘s role in the formation of any future
democratic stable government in Afghanistan as crucial, as he
would bring legitimacy to such a government acceptable to
Afghan people. I was delighted when I heard that the United
States Congress approved funds to assist King Zahir Shah to
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 57
Noor A Khalidi
convene a Loya Jerga, or grand constitutional assembly to agree
in forming a government of national unity in Afghanistan.
Hence, it was then that I decided to come to the Northern
Alliance enclave of north-eastern Afghanistan in support of
Massoud‘s resistance to the Taliban. And then there I was, in
the north-eastern enclave of the Northern Alliance held areas.
Major Dillon spent a few days discussing issues with me
and ensuring our contacts were in place and good. Then, I
accompanied the Special Forces teams from Panjshir to
Kishendeh, a mountainous village located some 60 Kilometres
south of Mazar-i-Sharif where we joined Rozi and his armoured
unit.
***
58 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
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4 THE AVALANCHE
Doves over the Blue Domes
Friday 9 November 2001 was a clear autumn day
around Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest city in northern Afghanistan.
The gold and yellow tree leaves were scattered everywhere. The
area around Pul-i-Imambukri, meaning Imam Bukhari Bridge,
is a truly picturesque place. Through the crystal clear, shallow
waters of the river splashing on exposed stones one could see
colourful pebbles on the river bed. The golden leaf trees on the
banks of the river Balkh, with green grass fields adjacent to the
ancient bridge created a lovely picnic site to enjoy a weekend
out with the family. However, it was not a picnic time, but on
that day, the main body of the Mazar Brigade was stationed on
the South side of the bridge which is about 15 kilometres
south-west of Mazar-i-Sharif. They were preparing to lodge
their final assault on Mazar city itself. Mazar Brigade was the
most organized element of General Dostum‘s 3000 strong army
advancing on Mazar-i-Sharif.
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 59
Noor A Khalidi
Since morning that day I noticed how excited Majid
Rozi and his soldiers were. The sweet realization of going back
to Mazar-i-Sharif filled him with enormous joy. He had not
been to the town for almost 5 years. Mazar-i-Sharif was his
hometown, where his son was living with relatives. The last
time Rozi saw his son was five years ago when he had to run
for his life to avoid being captured by the invading Taliban
forces. At the time, he was a junior officer with General Abdul
Rashid Dostum‘s forces, the then ruler of northern
Afghanistan. Being an Uzbek, he was from the same ethnic
background as Dostum whose secular fiefdom was overrun in
1996 by the Taliban extremist Islamic forces from southern
Afghanistan.
For the last three weeks, as the alliance liaison officer, I
was accompanying Major Dillon, the commander of a US
Battalion of Special Forces, assigned to support the militia
forces in northern Afghanistan with his command and control
apparatus. Two of his A-teams were assigned to assist Dostum
and Atta‘s forces. Their job was to coordinate air support and
provide militia commanders with the intelligence and logistical
support they needed to defeat the Taliban forces. During this
period, the Afghan militia and the supporting US Special
Forces fought their way pushing Taliban back from the high-
ground valleys and mountainous regions of central Afghanistan
and had reached the northern plains at the outskirts of Mazar-i-
Sharif, the provincial capital of Balkh Province bordering
Uzbekistan.
Rozi was a cheerful person full of life and character. In his
spare time, he would pull his ―Dambura‖, a basic two strings
native musical instrument of the northern Afghanistan, and
would play and sing along. All his fellow militia fighters would
set around him and would accompany him by clapping.
60 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
However, his melodies had a sort of sadness to them. One
evening, after a long day of driving through treacherous rocky,
mountainous road towards Mazar-i-Sharif, he was playing and
singing in his tent lightened by few lanterns. Dillon was setting
cross legged next to me, and we were listening to Rozi. Dillon
whispered in my ears to interpret the song for him. Rozi was
singing:
“The world revolved,
But not to our liking,
The time passed over our heads,
like a stormy wave.
As we desired audience,
the comforter of our hearts passed by.
You, the hopeless hope,
how far you are taking us with you,
the patience has gone from our world.
They say it is written in our destiny, that
our viewing time is over.”
Rozi had told us of his painful memories of the
Taliban‘s capture of Mazar-i-Sharif. Rozi remembered how his
unit was caught off guard. It was when Taliban bribed one of
the northern commanders, whose sudden defection to the
Taliban, opened the flood gates of the invading forces to enter
the city. The killings of thousands of his fellow Mazaries that
followed were still fresh in his memory. The Taliban ranks
included thousands of volunteer Arab, Pakistani and Chechen
fighters. These foreign fighters were sent to Afghanistan by
thousands of Madrassas (Islamic seminaries) in Pakistan to
support the mainly Kandahari Pashtoon Taliban to crush the
resistance in northern Afghanistan. The foreign student
volunteers were motivated by participating in a so called holy
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 61
Noor A Khalidi
jihad. The aim of such jihad was to create the first Islamic State
in the modern world, as per the medieval practices and life
styles of the sixth century Arab Islam. Now at the age of 30,
Rozi a tank unit commander in the Mazar Brigade, had 4
vintage Russian made T55 tanks, which he inherited, from the
now defunct Afghan Army. They were poised to march on the
city only 15 Kilometres to the north as part of a large force of
about 3000 fighters under the command of General Dostum.
There was another force of about half this size under the
command of Ustad Mohammad Atta who had progressed from
South east towards the city.
Rozi and his fellow tank personnel were wearing black
Russian made uniforms and helmets. They had received fresh
supplies of ammunition and other equipment from their
Russian and Uzbek supporters across the border to the north
since they had begun their recent campaign to reclaim Mazar-i-
Sharif from the Taliban three weeks ago. Supported by the US
Air Force they had made considerable advances towards the
town overtaking three Taliban defensive lines in the pace of
three weeks.
It was a strange sight. The sight of the neat black
uniforms of the tank personnel mingling with the horsemen in
their traditional Uzbek outfits 'Chapan' (stripped and plain
coloured cotton stuffed gowns up to their knees) with riding
boots of various colours, with their trousers tacked inside the
boots and scarfs tight around their waists, and wearing the
round Buzkashi hats of northern Afghanistan. Among the
crowd, there were a large number of fighters in the famous
Mujahedeen loose Shalwar and Kamis, the baggy cotton trouser
with a longer than usual business type shirt, outfits with
woollen brown Pakul hats of the Pakistani Chitral. You could
also see fighters in camouflaged uniforms wearing Pakul hats. If
62 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
it were not for the presence of the few tanks and their
personnel, one would have thought that the horsemen were
gearing to begin a Friday afternoon game of Buzkashi
sponsored by a proud father on the occasion of his son‘s
wedding. Friday is the weekend and is a day off in Afghanistan,
like the majority of other Moslem countries. Buzkashi is a
tough game played by the Uzbek and Turkmen horsemen of
the northern Afghanistan, former Turkistan. Anybody who had
seen the 1960‘s Colombia production 'The horsemen' featuring
Omar Sharif and Yul Bryener, will remember how the
horsemen would rush to pick up a toughened killed calf from
the ground, carry it for a distance and drop it in a designated
circle while all other players were trying to take it from you. But
the sudden roar of a B-52 heavy bomber flying high overhead
underlines the reality that it was not the carefree, peaceful time
of the yesteryears in Afghanistan and a game of Buzkashi was
not going to happen. Instead, a more serious game was at hand.
Rozi asked one of his soldiers to prepare lunch and
asked me to invite his visitor Sean Butler, a Journalist from The
Telegraph, to join him for lunch. He also asked me to tell
Dillon if he wanted to join them for lunch.
It was a week since Sean joined Rozi‘s unit and was
covering the events unfolding in northern Afghanistan for his
paper in the UK. He accompanied a small Unit of the British
SAS forces who were commissioned to provide support to
General Dostum‘s Northern Alliance forces in their drive to
dislodge the Taliban from northern Afghanistan.
I found Sean in conversation with Dillon close to an
old-mud building, on top of which the US Special Forces Unit
had mounted their communication and laser guiding
equipment. Sean was discussing the imminent move to Mazar-i-
Sharif with Major Dillon.
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 63
Noor A Khalidi
Dillon asked Sean, ―Do you know what Mazar-i-Sharif
means?‖
―It means the tomb of the saint,‖ answered Sean.
―Which saint?‖ asked Dillon.
―When you get to the city you will find a magnificent
domed shrine and a blue mosque at the heart of the city. The
whole city is built around it. It is believed by Afghans that it is
the mausoleum of Ali, the fourth caliph of Islam, Mohammad's
son-in-law, and the origin of Shiism,‖ explained Sean.
―Wasn‘t Ali in Arabia? How come he ended up here?‖
―In fact, Ali was killed near Baghdad in Iraq in 661, and
was buried there,‖ commented Sean. He continued, ―However,
according to a legend in Afghanistan his body was put on a
white camel that ran until she died, and that was the burial
place of Ali here in Mazar-i-Sharif.‖
―How come they decided that Mazar-i-Sharif is the
location?‖ wondered Dillon.
―Apparently the exact location has been subsequently
forgotten, but in the 11th century a local mullah had a dream
pointing to the grave in the present day Mazar-i-Sharif. In 1136
a mausoleum was built there following orders by the Seljuk
Sultan Sanjar, which was subsequently destroyed by Genghis
Khan,‖ explained Sean.
―It is an interesting story,‖ he continued, ―the present
location was pointed out later by another Mullah and in 1481
the shrine was built on the site. Mazar-i-Sharif became the
capital of Afghan Turkestan in 1866. Soon after, the site
became the migration destination for thousands of people who
left the historic town of Balkh, some 25 Kilometres to the west,
to settle around the shrine,‖ elaborated Sean.
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―The name Balkh rings a bell, but I am not quite sure
where and in what context I have heard or read about it,‖ noted
Dillon.
―Oh, ancient Balkh is older than history,‖ said Sean and
added, ―soon we will be going to the birth place of Zoroaster
and the Zoroastrian religion,‖ Sean was clearly excited.
―Balkh is where Alexander found the fleeing Persian
Emperor Darius and killed him. It is also the place where he
married the beautiful Roxanne. Back then the place was called
Bactra. Lots of Alexander's men settled out here and other
parts of Northern Afghanistan such as the city Alexandria of
Oxus, founded by Seleucus, which became the capital of
Bactrian-Greek Empire. Balkh was such an important city that
Tamerlane had himself crowned Emir there. It is located on the
famous ancient Silk Road connecting China and Central Asia to
Mesopotamia and the West, and on the south connecting these
areas to India. The over 4000 year flow of different people,
languages, faith and cultures through Afghanistan reflect in the
archaeology and history of this land,‖ Sean explained
―I see! Is Balkh still an important place? I mean
politically or from a geopolitical view?‖ asked Dillon.
―Oh no,‖ answered Sean. ―It is a sad story. After the
building of the Shrine, consequently Mazar-i-Sharif turned from
a small village into one of the major Afghanistan cities and in
the process doomed the historic city of Balkh to obscurity. The
historic Balkh, the mother of the ancient cities and civilization
was abandoned in favour of religious allegiances, similar to the
fate which followed the historic Nishapoor in north-east of the
present day Iran in favour of Mashhad,‖ answered Sean.
I was hesitant to break such an important and revealing
conversation; however, the lunch was about to be served so I
asked them to join Rozi for lunch.
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 65
Noor A Khalidi
The soldiers spread a large matt on the ground in the
shadow of one of Rozi‘s tanks and then spread a white cotton
sheet called ‗Destar Khwan‘, a Turkish word for dining table
cloth, right in the middle. Then arrived was quite a feast of rice
in large serving plates, large bowls of cooked bean, potato and
meat and round flat loaves of white bread.
Removing his wrapped around black sunglasses Major
Dillon said ―Hi Commander‖ as he joined the group for lunch.
Wearing an Uzbeki Chapan, he had a baseball cap on. He had
been among the Afghan melitia for almost three weeks now
and he had developed a taste for the traditional Afghan food
and often preferred to forego his standard Special Forces
packed food ration. Spending a few weeks in Kazakhstan just a
month ago for training with Kazakh paratroopers really helped
him adjust to this new environment amongst Afghan Uzbek
militia. ―Welcome welcome Major Dillon and Mr. Sean‖ Rozi
replied, in broken English. Rozi had learned some English at a
high school in Mazar-i-Sharif. While a soldier pouring water
from a hand held jar called an Aftawa, Rozi and his fellow tank
commanders, Dillon and Sean, the journalist, washed their
hands and dried them with kitchen towels handed over to them
by a fellow soldier. They all sat cross legged around the Destar
Khwan and started eating, three persons per large serving dish.
For a moment, Sean forgot the roar of the passing B-52
bomber overhead and thought, perhaps, the wedding feast
before the Buzkashi game was for real.
While Rozi and his group were eating lunch, the sound
of exploding bombs from the B-52 on Taliban positions some
3 Kilometres away could be clearly heard. Dillon‘s air force
combat controllers were directing the bombardment of the
Taliban positions from the rooves of a few mud-castles in the
area. This part of the country is very flat. A week ago, after
66 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
crossing over the Shulgarah Pass, they left behind the
mountains and valleys South of Mazar-i-Sharif and advanced
on the northern plains. The valleys were very beautiful, covered
with light green turf and a blanket of red tulips. The blue-i-sh
shadows of the hills, magnified by the shining glare of sun,
created magnificent scenery to enjoy.
From Kishendeh, we fought our way north following a
road which extends form Bamyan Province in Central
Afghanistan through the district of Shulgarah leading to Mazar-
i-Sharif. Between Bamyan and Kishendeh, the Hindukush
Mountains rise to over 4000 meters. In Shulgarah, we were
joined by two other opposition forces, one commanded by
Ustad Mohammad Atta who had fought their way from Sar-e-
Pul District of Jowzjan Province through the Aq Kuprik pass
and groups of Haraza fighters led by Haji Mohammad
Mohaqiq. Close to Mazar-i-Sharif, the three forces, spread, Atta
towards the west, Mohaqiq in the south-east and Dostum
forces towards the south-west of the city.
Rozi‘s father and grandparents were originally from
Balkh. His father, a farmer with some fertile parcels of land
along the Balkh River, was a cotton grower. Balkh River
originates from Central Afghanistan to the south of Mazar-i-
Sharif and run through Shulgarah District towards Balkh. This
part of the country is among Afghanistan‘s most fertile regions.
The region is famous in producing cotton, grain and fruit.
Having grown up in the area, Rozi knew the terrain quite well.
Now camped on the south side of the Imam Bukhari Bridge, he
felt home!
While eating lunch, another B-52 bomber flew
overhead. Glancing toward Major Dillon Rozi said, ―I hope
they do not bomb us again!‖ He was referring to an incident
that occurred a few days earlier where they fought hard to take
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 67
Noor A Khalidi
a hilltop position from the Taliban but found themselves to be
the target of an almost devastating friendly fire. A large B-52
1000 pound bomb fell almost 2 kilometres short of its intended
target and remarkably close to wiping Rozi‘s unit out.
Fortunately, they were in the trenches dug out by the retreating
Taliban defenders and fatalities were limited to three fighters
and 5 injuries.
―Hopefully it won‘t happen again. We have right
personnel on the ground to guide the pilots now,‖ replied
Dillon.
Rozi had orders to move towards the city and to secure
downtown Mazar-i-Sharif. With its commanding position over
the transportation routes to all directions, and with its two
airports, Mazar-i-Sharif was a very important prize for the
forces opposing Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Knowing the
domino effect it would have on the outcome of the war,
Dostum and other Northern Alliance commanders placed high
priority in retaking Mazar. While Rozi‘s mechanised unit aimed
to secure downtown, the cavalry battalions had orders to secure
the Dehdadi military airport just ahead of them and the civilian
airport to the north-east of the town. A third unit had received
orders to move beyond Mazar-i-Sharif to the north and capture
the Hairatan port town from the Taliban.
Hairatan, situated about 50 Kilometres to the north of
Mazar-i-Sharif, is located on the south side of the Amu Darya
which forms the border between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan,
a former republic of the Soviet Union. A bridge constructed in
the 1970s, named 'The Friendship Bridge', replaced the bulk of
trade shipment by barges and ferries between the two
countries. Termez, a major river port of Uzbekistan on the
Amu Darya, is located on the north side of the river. To the
south-east of Mazar-i-Sharif, some 350 Kilometres away, Kabul
68 ▪ THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
is connected by a highway through the Salang Tunnel, cut in
1960s in the Hindukosh Mountains some 3000 metres above
the sea level. To the south-west of Mazar-i-Sharif, some 500
kilometres away, is located Herat near the border with Iran.
Kunduz, Smangan, Baghlan and Badakhshan provinces lie to
the east and are connected by road to Mazar-i-Sharif. The
Hindukosh Mountains to the south of Mazar-i-Sharif, in fact,
divides the country into North and South.
As soon as the lunch was over Rozi and his men
gathered for the afternoon prayers. They stood in silence in
three rows behind the battalion priest. The priest, a soldier
himself prayed for the safety of his comrades in the battle
ahead and placed them in the hands of Allah, the almighty
God.
It was almost 2pm that afternoon that the orders
arrived to advance towards the city. At his command seat inside
the old T55 tank, Rozi received a phone call from General
Dostum. Dostum asked him to move fast with his mechanised
unit towards Downtown Mazar. He mentioned to him that
apparently the Taliban were leaving the city in a hurry, but a
brigade of foreign fighters, who just arrived few days earlier to
defend the city, is taking positions around Rawza, the shrine at
the heart of the city. He asked him to secure the city and
prevent any sort of looting or anarchy. With that they were on
the march with waves upon waves of the sounds of ―Allah-o-
Akbar‖ (God is Great) shouted by the marching men. The
bridge, Pull-i-Imam Bukri, was crossed rapidly. It was a bizarre
scene to witness. The marching men on board a bunch of
noisy, smoke making tanks, followed by a ragtag of vehicles
including Nissan pickups, old Russian Jeeps, flat-bed trucks,
Toyota taxis and hundreds of horsemen in Genghis Khan‘s
Mongol army look and style were charging towards Mazar-i-
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 69
Noor A Khalidi
Sharif. To our surprise there was no resistance, no defenders in
sight. The military airport at Dehdadi was soon secured.
As soon as Rozi arrived at the square around Rawza he
came under fire from positions in the park around the Blue
Mosque. Rozi was expecting this since Dostum had warned
him of the presence of some foreign Taliban fighters in the
area. He asked his tank driver to keep going while he trained his
55mm gun onto one of the positions at a park corner. Within a
second the gun blasted the Taliban positions away and a few
bodies and debris was scattered everywhere. Suddenly hundreds
of Foreign Taliban Fighters from various corners started
running towards Sultan Razia High School, the city‘s Girl‘s
High School at a side street. The school was closed by the
Taliban years ago as they banned women from receiving any
kind of education. Apparently Foreign Taliban Fighters,
hardcore volunteers from Pakistan, Chechnya and the Arab
world, had made the school as their headquarters since arriving
a few days before from Pakistan and Kandahar through Herat
in the west. When we arrived around the school, we saw the
gate was closed and noticed a big white sheet which raised as
indication of a white flag. Rozi asked his soldiers to cease fire.
Then with his AK47 Kalashnikov in his hand he stood up on
top of his tank and shouted over the gate and asked the Taliban
to open the gate and surrender by leaving their weapons on the
ground and raising their hands in the air. Suddenly, someone
answered from behind the gate in English, saying, ―we would
like to talk terms of surrender, we want to negotiate
surrendering.‖ In a broken English Rozi asked, ―Who are you
and how many of you are in the school?‖
The voice answered, ―We are volunteer foreign
students from Pakistani madrassas and were sent here to take
part in the Jihad.‖
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It appeared that the Afghan Taliban, in a rush to leave
the city and save their necks, had forgotten about their foreign
fighter brothers who just arrived days before to help them
defend the city.
Right at that moment Major Dillon and few of his A-
team arrived riding an old Russian Jeep followed by a team of
the English Green SAS commandos. Rozi briefed Dillon about
the stand off. Dillon produced a hand held loud-speaker from
his jeep and started dictating the terms of surrender: ―No
negotiations, no preconditions whatsoever. Open the gate,
leave your weapons on the ground, raise your hands up high
and behind your heads and walk out of the gate one by one.‖
―We are about 200 men here with all kinds of weapons and
sufficient ammunition.‖ The voice answered from behind the
Iron Gate. He went on to say ―we will only surrender once we
are given assurances that we will be provided with a safe
passage to Pakistan.‖
That was out of the question as far as Major Dillon was
concerned. He had received orders that his Special Forces A-
team should ensure the captured foreign fighters were
interrogated by the CIA agents who were flown in just two days
ago for that very purpose. He also heard an interview by the
defence secretary Rumsfeld where he opposed to any kind of
amnesty purportedly given to Taliban by General Dostum in
lieu of laying down their arms. Rumsfeld was particularly
interested in the foreign volunteer fighters alongside the
Taliban. He wanted his forces to have custody of such fighters
and to have a chance to talk to them. Given this, Major Dillon
was adamant about their unconditional surrender.
Rozi looked at Dillon and said, ―I better call General
Dostum‖ and with that dropped down inside his tank. He
appeared a moment later and mentioned to Major Dillon, ―We
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 71
Noor A Khalidi
don‘t want them here because they will be a big problem for us
with all these International journalists everywhere. You tell
them if they lay down their arms and surrender we would hand
them over to the Red Cross. End of story. Our problem is
solved. It‘s up to the Red Cross what to do with them next.‖
―Oh no! We cannot do that. No Red Cross
involvement at this stage. We need to talk to them first, to
question each one of them about their links to Al-Qaeda. This
is why we are here, to get into that network and destroy it. We
need to take custody of these people and keep them in a safe
place for a while. That is what we are going to do,‖ answered
Dillon.
Then, with his ‗Police‘ brand wrap around dark sun-
glasses masking his eyes, and a blue Giants baseball cap
providing cover from the late afternoon low direct sun, Dillon
put his laud speaker to his mouth and shouted, ―You have 30
minutes to surrender and follow the instructions I have given
you: arms on the ground, raise your hands and walk out of the
gate one by one 30 minutes starting now.‖ He thought given
the number of the fighters besieged inside the school, Rozi and
his men and A-team 555 needed a little bit more time to gather
their forces around the compound, which occupied a large area
and consisted of a number of buildings of various shapes and
heights. Dillon asked Captain Charles Brown to get ready for
any contingency. Then Dillon asked Rozi to take positions
around the school. He ran to his jeep and asked his Air Force
combat operator to alert the air cover, just in case they were
needed.
Rozi and other unit commanders started to reinforce
their positions around the school for a possible assault. There
was some commotion from within the school, a lot of
rumbling, but one voice was clearly audible, someone speaking
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Noor A Khalidi
in strong Arabic English accent telling the others ―There are
some Americans outside. They want to kill us, Allah-o-Akbar,
Allah-o-Akbar.‖ And with that all hell broke loose. Some
grenades were thrown over the gate towards Rozi‘s forces and
in retaliation the tanks started shelling the school. The sound of
heavy machine guns firing from the school roof tops echoed
over the city while Dostum‘s horsemen were firing shoulder
held rocket launchers in response. The sound of hundreds of
Kalashnikovs going off all at once was deafening. There was
some mortar and shoulder held rocket fire from inside the
school towards the besieging force, who were shelling the
school with whatever weapon at their disposal.
The battle dragged out to around 8pm that evening
when a US Air Force F18 jet started circling the school. With
their laser beams fixed on the school, Captain Brown‘s air
combat operators were directing the pilot on to the target from
the top of a building on the opposite side of the street. The
pilot warned Mathew, one of the operators, that with only 200
yards away from the target, they were too close and in a danger
zone, he said they needed to move back at least another 100
yards. Right at that minute the voice of a second fighter pilot
who just arrived on the scene was heard saying ―I have my 200
pound munitions lock on the target, five seconds….‖ Then the
sound of a big bang echoed in the streets. The bomb whistled
past over Rozi‘s tank and hit the top of the thick school wall
with a huge explosion inside. A lot of smoke, debris and dust
covered the area. Once cleared, a huge gaping hole was opened
in the wall and suddenly the assailants, and the foreign fighters
were facing each other through the gap. The impact of the
bomb on the defenders seemed horrendous. While, bodies and
human parts were scattered everywhere, those who survived
were getting back on their feet to fight back. The dust and
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smoke was not completely settled when the whistling sound of
even a larger bomb followed by a much louder bang, and this
time all within the compound. ―This one right on the mark‖,
shouted Mathew from his position on top of the opposite
building. The bombing of the school continued for a while.
Around 8:45 pm Dillon asked Rozi to move in and with
that Rozi‘s tank rumbled inside the school yard through the
opening of the bomb hole on the wall, followed by the second
tank and his fighters followed them all guns blazing. Some
members of the US A-team and a couple of the English Green
SAS commandos with their brown Afghan round Pakul hats
moved in, Americans with their M-60s and Brits with AK47
Kalashnikovs in their hands.
By 9 pm the battle of the girls‘ high school was over. It
left behind a shattered place with the heavy smell of blood,
smoke, dust and destruction. From an estimated pool of 150
men, it appeared that only about 60 foreign fighters survived to
surrender. Rozi briefed Dostum on the phone, who sounded
very unhappy about the way the outcome was achieved. He
asked Rozi to take the prisoners to Qalai-Djangi, a Dari name
for the Garrison Fort, a sprawling huge castle on the outskirts
of the city, which used to be the base for Dostum‘s army.
Early the next morning Major Dillon woke up on the
roof of a four storey building overlooking a park which
surrounded the ‗Rawza‘ complex, the Blue domed Shrine and
the blue mosque. He woke up to the sound of hundreds of
birds, white doves, some sitting on the edges of the building
parapet and some were flying in circles around them. Dillon
and A-team 555 chose this building as their temporary
headquarters because of its commanding position over the city
centre. He wondered where the hell all these birds came from.
Then he tried to stand on his feet and peep over the parapet.
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His eyes were greeted with the magnificent scenery of shining
mosaics of the blue domes of the shrine and the mosque
minarets set in a sprawling square covered with stone slab
pavements, parklands and streets. There were thousands of
white doves all over the place.
The click of a camera made him look to his right and he
saw Sean taking pictures standing beside me close to the
parapets.
―Now I understand the description you gave me of the
place,‖ said Dillon glancing at us and continued ―true or not
doesn‘t really matter. If people believe the saint‘s burial place is
here and they build such a magnificent shrine for him then, he
is here, in their hearts, that is all what matters.‖
Looking down from the building, Dillon noticed a
group of Rozi‘s men sitting on the lawns of Rawza while Rozi
was playing his ―Danbura‖ and singing very loud. Dillon
remembered Rozi‘s promise to sing on the lawns of Rawza
once he reclaims it from the Taliban. Dillon asked me to let go
and join them. We rushed down the stairs and onto the square
around the Ali‘s Rawza. Rozi was singing:
“Your love, and I the proudest man
- who could do so but you?
As God knows within his Secret Smile
You are the jewel of my eye
my every wish come true
You are the grace that endows my dreams
The sun that lights Belief
My reason for hope
My rampart of reliance
Let this be my song
Of my devotion
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Without you my world would be
As darks as night defies the light.
Just to see you
Is an urge to prayer
Beyond the call of any muezzin
God be praised for that!”
The next day Dillon received orders to immediately
relocate to camp K2 air base, where the Special Forces were set
up in Uzbekistan. He was told that his services were urgently
needed elsewhere. He asked Charles Brown, the man with
Harley Davison cap, the Captain of the A-team 555 assigned
with Rozi forces, to take command in the area. Dillon jumped
on a jeep which I was driving and we headed to the airport.
On our way to the airport, I was giving Dillon
information about the suburbs and major landmarks along the
road from the city to the airport. Dillon noticed the joy and
excitement on my face. I was clearly happy and exited being
part of the forces that had retaken Mazar-i-Sharif from the
Taliban.
At the airport Dillon said. ―I am glad to see you so
happy Daoud. Well, you have been great help to me adapting to
the local conditions and communicating with people here. I
particularly found your depth of knowledge of your country, its
historical, political and cultural life very useful to me. I would
very much like it if you could company me in my next
assignment, which would be very soon. As soon as I find out
where it would be, I will let you know. ‗My local ears and eyes‘ I
believe!‖
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I said, ―Don‘t mention Major. I am fighting for my
country to reclaim its identity, its pride, its history and its
culture. I should thank you for helping the Afghan people
return back to civilisation.‖
Dillon then boarded the waiting C-130 cargo plane and
headed to camp K2 in Uzbekistan.
***
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Race to Kabul
With Dillon on his way to Kamp K2 and Mazar-i-Sharif
now safely in the hands of the alliance forces my services were
wanted elsewhere, near the Capital Kabul. The alliance
leadership apparently were facing increasing difficulties dealing
with the American Special Forces commanders on the ground
close to Kabul. Local commanders could not effectively
communicate with or understand the US commanders. Given
my successful assignment with Major Dillon, I was asked to
facilitate a positive dialogue and mutual understanding by
providing liaison between the Afghan alliance commanders and
the Special Forces commander on the ground. With such a
demanding task ahead, I boarded a helicopter at Mazar airport
and headed to Istalif, a village high up in the slopes of the
mountains about 45 kilometres north of Kabul. Commanders
of the alliance had setup a command post at ―Takht-e-Istalif‖. I
was carrying my satellite phone with me. Through this phone, I
was kept abreast of the situation and news from all fronts.
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It was early in the morning when the Northern Alliance
helicopter started hoovering over Istalif. Looking down
through the helicopter window, I was truly saddened from what
I saw. The place was dotted with ruined entire villages, burned
out vineyards and gardens, uncultivated terraced farmland on
the mountain slopes.
Upon disembarkation from the helicopter, I was
warmly greeted by a local Istalifi commander by the name of
Sofi Razzaq. He was a fair skinned medium height man in his
fifties with nicely trimmed silver beard wearing a padded khaki
pants tucked inside his black military boots and a winter khaki
padded jacket and a white scarf with black dots wrapped
around his neck. A round, brown woollen Chitrally Pakul hat,
tacked to one side in the style of the late Ahmad Shah
Massoud, completed his outfit. Apart from the hat and the
scarf, the rest were not dissimilar to the Russian soldiers‘ winter
uniforms. It gets cold in the early mornings of autumn high up
here in Istalif, so most of the soldiers I saw were wearing
similar outfits, perhaps like the bulk of their weaponry, the
uniforms were also part of the supplies to the Northern
Alliance from allies in north, Russia and Uzbekistan.
Commander Sofi Razzaq took me to the edge of the
platform at the back of a building, once a restaurant, and
handed me a pair of very large Russian made binoculars to
survey the war zone. At 300 meters high in the slopes of the
mountains facing east towards Kapisa and Bagram, the capital
of the 1st century AD ancient Kushan empire, Takht-e-Istalf
was indeed a superb observation post a military commander
could have wished far.
In Kabul‘s hey days, the restaurant and the adjacent
scenic hotel were popular with the Kabul elite and the visiting
foreign dignitaries. In fact, many years prior I accompanied a
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delegation from the Kuwait Fund to this restaurant for an
official reception on their honour by the Afghan Ministry of
Planning. The restaurant is located on a large square platform at
the edge of a cliff. From the back, it has 180 degrees of
sweeping uninterrupted views across the fertile Shamali plains
that extend from the hills behind the northern-most suburbs of
Kabul on the right-hand side to Jabulsaraj at the foothills of the
Panjshir and Salang Valleys in the Hindukush mountains at the
left hand side. This is an area of about 100 kilometres long and
50 kilometres wide.
From this command and observation post, the alliance
commanders were directing military operations against the
Taliban forces defending the northern approaches to Kabul. A
US Special Forces contingent was also directing air strikes
against the Taliban locations from this superb observation post.
While scanning the area through binoculars, I asked
Sofi Razzaq how the place was destroyed and burnt out.
―The Taliban destroyed Istalif and forced its population
to flee two years ago to create a no-man‘s land buffer zone
between Kabul and the Northern plains,‖ explained Sofi Razaq.
Pointing to areas from north to south towards Kabul
Sofi Razzaq said, ―The Taliban forces were already pushed back
from Jabulsaraj to about 30 kilometres north of Kabul. You see
over there, the Bagram air base, the largest in Afghanistan, is
now firmly in our hands and the US Air Force personnel are
working to make it operational.‖
He pointed to the two main roads that were extended
towards Kabul, the old highway which was closer to Istalif and
the new road that extended from Bagram directly to the vicinity
of the Kabul airport. He particularly asked me to observe the
Taliban‘s secondary, defensive lines at the foothills about 10
kilometres north of Kabul. Through the powerful lenses of the
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large binocular, I noticed a long line of the Taliban artillery and
tank positions extended in the east, westerly direction and
concentrated more around the new road leading to Kabul.
Pointing to distant positions, Sofi Razzaq said, ―Those
tanks were positioned over there yesterday. We have credible
reports that these new equipments were supplied to the Taliban
very recently by the Pakistani army and some Pakistani army
generals are helping the Taliban here.‖
Such accusations were nothing new, but given the
circumstances made perfect sense. Pakistan, while publicly
joining Washington‘s anti terror campaign, was strongly and
publicly opposed to the takeover of Kabul by the Northern
Alliance.
―How many men do you command?‖ I asked.
―I have about 2000 men who are eager to dash towards
Kabul, along with thousands of other alliance soldiers in the
front line,‖ responded Soffi Razzaq pointing to the front line
directly in front of us down on the plain.
At this point, a US Special Forces Officer approached
us. He was dressed similar to Sofi Razzaq, but had a pair of
shades strung around his thick tattooed neck.
―I am Captain Ben Gardner,‖ said the Special Forces
officer while extending his hand to greet me.
―My name is Daoud Afghanyar, I am here to work as
the liaison officer between the local commanders and you
Commander Gardner.‖
―Yeah, I know. I spoke to Major Dillion. He told me
lots of good things about you. May I call you Daoud sir?‖
―Off course Captain, I would prefer that, and it is nice
of Major Dillon. We had a few very productive weeks together
up in the north of the country!‖
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―I heard of that, with a major victory in Mazar-i-Sharif,
I hear.‖
―Yes it appears that the victory in Mazar-i-sharif is now
echoing in other fronts, as well. This morning I received the
news that Herat is on the up rise against the Taliban; they
people have taken over the city‘s prison releasing over 2000 of
the local militia and I noticed here local commanders are on
their blocks too!‖
―A little bit too eager, given the circumstances, I must
say,‖ responded Captain Gardner.
We went inside the restaurant building to meet other
commanders. Inside the building, Soffi Razaqq introduced two
other local commanders, Faizullah and Jamalluddin to me who
were dressed in their battle ready uniforms. These commanders
were under the command of General Bismillah Khan who was
now stationed at the Bagram airbase.
Captain Gardner looked different from Dillon. He was
much of a stubborn type of person, who had difficulty getting
along with the local commanders.
I turned to Gardner and said ―Excuse me Captain let
me first ask local commanders about the situation on the
ground as they see it.‖
―Go ahead, and please also interpret their responses, so
I get the picture.‖
―Will do Captain.‖
Then I turned to local commanders and asked them the
same.
Faizullah released his frustration immediately, ―The
damn American commanders don‘t listen to us. They just
bomb locations that aren‘t important while the bulk of the
Taliban force is intact over there!‖
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―We are wasting a lot of time just waiting for the
American commander to tell us what to do. By now we would
have already been in Kabul!‖ added commander Jamalluddin.
Sofi Razzaq said ―this delay will cost us the lives of a lot
of our men, as you saw the Taliban is bringing in more and
more tanks, heavy T62 tanks and placing them in the dugout
positions. It would be difficult to dislodge them without a
sustained bombardment by the American jets.‖
I interpreted what was said to Captain Gardner. He
responded by saying:
―I understand what they say, and I can only sympathize
with them. However, I want to assure you that my men are
highly trained air combat operators who hardly miss a target.
Meanwhile, I also get my orders from my superiors, from the
Centcom, and believe me there are other considerations that
are involved in choosing the bombing targets than military
realities on the ground alone.‖ He cleared his throat then
added:
―This afternoon, we will have another visitor directly
from Kamp K2 who will be involved in the operations from
now on. He will be the man clarifying the political positions
here.‖
The new comer was none other than John Baker, the
CIA‘s anti terrorist expert, whom I met at the Bazarak town of
Panjshir late in September. He was now considered by
Americans as the architect of the campaign against the Taliban.
Upon Baker‘s arrival, captain Gardner led him to his
command Headquarter and asked me to join them.
―May I ask Mr. Baker why are we holding the alliance
from advancing towards Kabul?‖ I asked.
―We are not yet ready for the takeover of Kabul‖
answered Baker.
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―But these guys are ready, they have been ready for
sometimes now, and the time is costing them a lot in terms of
the lives of their men!‖ I insisted.
―Does the international community want another
government of the Northern Alliance in Kabul? No my friend,
we want a more balanced, a broad based government to take
over in Kabul, a government acceptable to all ethnic groups in
the country, not only Tajiks and Uzbeks and Hazaras,‖ he
added.
―That is a Nobel idea Mr. Baker but how would you
propose to do that. The Northern Alliance is the only credible
military force on the ground right now, and they are practically
knocking on the Kabul doors. Are you going to join the
Taliban in defending Kabul against them?‖ I wondered.
―No we will not do that, but we do not want to be a
party to handing over power to a minority group as well, with
undesirable consequences. A well orchestrated diplomatic
effort is underway to form a broad-based provisional
government which would have to be endorsed later by a ‗Loya
Jirga‘, the grand council of Afghan tribal leaders‖ answered
baker.
―I am aware of the King Zahir Shah‘s grand plan and
can assure you that the alliance leadership is in agreement with
those efforts and is participating in them. However, it is a
political and diplomatic process that has to take its course, and
hopefully in full swing very soon. But someone has to reclaim
Kabul and the country from the Taliban first. The commanders
and soldiers here can‘t just sit in their trenches and get killed by
ever increasing voluntary and involuntary forces joining the
Taliban ranks from Pakistan with more and more of the
supplies getting through to them.‖ I retorted.
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―Sitting idle is no option my friend. I am here to help
the alliance forces move south, to help take Kandahar from the
Taliban!‖ responded Baker.
―Mr. Baker last night I heard on the radio the same
message from President Bush after his meeting with Pakistani
President Musharraf in New York. I found this strategy as far
from reality as New York is from Kabul. First, from where we
are now, the road to Kandahar goes through Kabul. It is only
about 500 kilometres on a highway. The alternative is over six
times longer journey through the most torturous mountainous
terrain on earth by circling the entire country, as no one can go
directly south from here through the Hindu Kosh mountains.
Secondly, these soldiers and commanders would have the least
desire to fight their way south. They belong to villages around
here and this is their support base. Liberation of Kandahar
should take place by anti-Taliban forces from the south itself.
We need to come up with something more practical, more
realistic I am afraid.‖
Our deliberations continued till late in the evening
exploring many alternative strategies while the sporadic sounds
of bombing were echoing in the mountain around behind us.
Captain Gardner‘s men with their laser spotters and
other equipment were busy assigning bombing targets for the
overhead strike aircrafts. Captain Gardner was relying on the
electronic surveillance reports provided to him by his
commanders to assign bombing targets and in the process
ignoring the advice of the local commanders. As far the local
commanders, the result was a waste of time and hitting wrong
targets away from where they perceived should have been
targeted.
Late that night, as I was getting ready to go to bed, my
satellite phone started ringing. It was Nadeem, my old friend in
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Kabul. He was one of important alliance contacts and co-
ordinators within the occupied Kabul. He was the one who
convinced me to join the alliance. He also had a satellite phone
and regularly kept me informed about the situation in Kabul.
That night he sounded very excited and told me that the
Taliban were busy packing and fleeing the city in a hurry. They
were heading south towards Kandahar. He also mentioned that
the day before, a large caravan of Arab fighters left the city
heading towards Jalalabad in the east.
As soon as I was off the phone I run to find
Commander Sofi Razzaq. I found him enjoying a large plate of
delicious local grape with his fellow commanders, Faizullah,
Jamalluddin and few others. I broke the news to them and
added that the time of action is now upon them, they have to
advance on Kabul at once and provide security for the citizens.
In no time they were busy talking on their walkie talkies to their
front line officers and the alliance higher command
headquarters at Bagram airport. They both gathered their men
jumped on their jeeps and speeded down the road towards the
front line.
Even before the next morning‘s sunrise I rushed to the
edge of the platform to watch the battle front which I was
expecting to unfold very soon. However, as soon as I was out
of the room where I slept a few hours of the night, I could hear
from a distance the sounds of ―Allaho Akbar, Allaho Akbar‖
God is great, God is Great. Through the lenses of the
binoculars given to me by commander Razzaq I could clearly
see the trails of dust behind the advancing vehicles of the
alliance fighters towards the Taliban positions. Captain Gardner
was already observing the scene when I got there. He asked:
―Where are commander Razzaq, Faizullah and
commander Jamalluddin?‖
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I answered ―among their ranks and files down there I
suppose, pointing towards the moving front line.‖
While watching the plains, we were expecting a stiff
resistance from the Taliban defenders. After all, they have
stationed a large number of tanks and artillery in positions to
fight. But to our surprise, the Taliban tanks and guns remained
silent. All of a sudden the remaining Taliban started retreating
in a hurry leaving behind all the heavy tanks and artillery pieces.
Quite frankly, the speed of the Taliban retreat caught Captain
Gardner by surprise. He was not prepared for this. It took
nearly a month for the Taliban to be pushed back from
Jabulsaraj to the current positions, and he was expecting they
would provide stiff resistance to defend Kabul from here.
However, he was not aware of what has happened the night
before in Kabul. I simply failed to tell him late last night as he
was gone to bed. Right at that moment John Baker rushed to
join us at the platform asking ―what is happening?‖ I handed
over to him my binoculars and while pointing to the direction
of the Taliban positions on the plains told him:
―John, it appears the history has taken its own course
and is implementing its own strategy. Apparently, the Taliban
have left Kabul overnight, and those retreating in a hurry down
there are the unfortunate few abandoned Arab and Pakistani
volunteers left behind. By the way, this is not the first time they
have done the same to their allies. Gentlemen, let join the race
and we will have lamb kebab for lunch in Kabul, my treat!‖
***
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Kabul rejoicing
I called Nadeem in Kabul and asked him to meet me at
the Guest House of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the place I
had in mind to stay while in Kabul. It was centrally located and
secure place.
Kabul was jubilant when I arrived there. People were
greeting the alliance soldiers with flowers everywhere. When I
got to the guest house, I found Nadeem was waiting for me. He
was full of joy and gave me a long hard hug. I told him his
phone call was extremely timely last night.
We spent the rest of the day surveying various parts of
the city driving a Toyota four wheel drive. We would stop at
various key government departments, go inside check around
and take notes.
As far as a modern government and civil society was
concerned, everything was absent in Kabul. The government
infrastructure was in ruins. Four years of chaotic Mujahidin
government and six years of medieval Taliban rule reduced the
Afghan Government and the country's infrastructures to
rubble. We had no regular armed force, no police force, no
judiciary system, no legislative system, no banks, no media and
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no functioning transport system by the time the Taliban left
Kabul.
Once a city of one and a half million, Kabul now
housed less than half a million people. The city‘s telephone
system was long collapsed. A meagre amount of unreliable
electricity power was available through the city‘s grid system.
Many people who could afford it were using private small
petrol or diesel generators for electricity. Kabul‘s public
transportation system was nonexistent. Very few taxies were in
operation.
The government departments were empty of furniture
and equipment. They were sold in Peshawar Karkhanoo
market. I even saw some Afghan government officers‘ name
plates were on sale there. That was the legacy of the
Mujahidin‘s looting of Kabul and no fault of the Taliban, I have
to admit.
The Taliban had left Kabul in a hurry, but had the
decency of not engaging in any sort of looting. They did put an
end to the legacy of lawlessness, rape and looting of the
Mujahidin. Having in mind the experience of the first
Mujahidin government, I was truly fearful of the prospect of
repeating the same now that the alliance soldiers were in
control. However, soon my fears were gone. I was satisfied
with the discipline and professionalism demonstrated by the
alliance soldiers and commanders alike. The bulk of the alliance
forces who rushed to Kabul stopped at the outskirts of the city,
around Khairkhana and the Kabul airport. In the absence of a
professional police force, only sufficient units spread around
the city, to provide security. I guess by learning from the past
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mistakes, General Fahim and General Bismillah Khan, were
getting it right this time.
The degree of pragmatism that was on display by the
Taliban was amazing. Their strategists seemed to be getting it
right again. It was not the sort of brainless fanatic fight to the
death strategy which many thought they would pursue, which
was expected of them, I guess by the Pakistani ISI and the Al-
Qaeda fighters on the ground, but rather calculated moves and
were playing to their strengths, first in Mazar-i-Sharif and now
in Kabul. They were not in to fight a loosing war. The only
bodies I found scattered around in Kabul streets belonged to
the Arab fighters who were abandoned by the Taliban and who
decided to make a stand against the alliance forces. The Taliban
fighters left all their heavy equipment behind, took their light
weapons and ammunition and I was sure were on their way to
melt away in their tribal population areas south of Kabul, from
Gahzni, Paktika and Zabul provinces to Kandahar Urozgan
and Helmand. The Taliban were demonstrating a high degree
of strategic awareness of the changing balance of power in the
country and in the region. Would they do the same in
Kandahar? I was wondering to myself. I was sure they would
and they would melt away in the population, remain quite for
sometimes and observe.
The next day Buhanuddin Rabbani crept in thinking he
was still the President. Qanoni moved to the Ministry of
Interior and Abdullah Abdullah assumed foreign affairs and
officials of the Northern Alliance were being assigned to
various administration posts. I was nervously watching the
alliance moves in re-establishing its administration in the
Capital.
Wednesday night, 14 November I was discussing with
Nadeem the latest events in Kabul. Referring to the newly
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established Rabbani administration I mentioned, ―This must be
a very temporary arrangement, I assume!‖
―Why do you think of it as a temporary arrangement?‖
Nadeem Questioned.
―Well until we have a broad based government, I
suppose, and a head of the state that is acceptable to the
majority,‖ I answered.
―Rabbani is the President and his government are still
recognised by the United Nations as the legitimate government
of Afghanistan,‖ he responded.
―Not anymore I am afraid!‖ I responded and went on
to add, ―The United Nation‘s Security Council passed last night
a resolution which clearly calls for the formation of a broad
based government, representing all Afghan people, a and has
authorised Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN special envoy for
Afghanistan, to convene a conference of all Afghan factions to
form a transitional government.‖
―The Security Council is under the US influence and
they want to impose their own preferred government on
Afghanistan,‖ commented Nadeem.
―That maybe the case, however, I am glad it happens to
be the correct one this time around,‖ I responded. ―Do not
forget it was not long ago that the alliance supported King
Zahir Shah‘s efforts to convene a Loya Jirga,‖ I added.
―We don‘t want all those Mohammad Zaies, the King
relatives, to come back and govern us once again,‖ commented
Nadeem.
―The issue is having a legitimate government, one that
all ethnic groups could relate to it. Pashtoons make up the
majority of Afghan people and it is imperative that any
transitional political structure must reflect this. In the long
term, once we have a working democracy, legitimacy will be
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ensured through the democratic processes. Right now we need
a government capable of uniting the country and powerful
enough to embark on a program of reconstruction. The
international community will not provide billions of dollars
needed for the reconstruction unless it is satisfied that a
legitimate government is in place which is enjoying the support
of the people‖ I responded.
―You think Rabbani should do whatever the Americans
tell him to do?‖ questioned Nadeem.
―No the alliance, the National Front leadership, must
show the wisdom of understanding the strategic realities of the
day. We have the United States fully committed to our side this
time. That means the whole of the Western World. It means
billions of dollars, unrestricted funds for the Afghan people to
rebuild this country. We would be fools to let this opportunity
is missed.‖
―So it means to dance to the tune played by the
Americans!‖ inquired Nadeem.
―Well my friend let me tell you a story. When the
Bolsheviks took power in St Petersburg in November 1917,
Lenin sent Trotsky to sign a peace treaty with the Germans to
get Russia out of the destructive World War I. He needed peace
and stability to establish his government. In a telegraph to
Lenin Trotsky complained that the Germans‘ demands were
unacceptable. Lenin replied to him by saying ‗if peace with
Germans requires you to wear a women‘s skirt, then wear it‘!‖
***
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Behind the enemy lines
When I heard the flight commander announced 5
minutes to the landing zone, I felt a sense of unease in my
stomach. We boarded the helicopters at an air base near Quetta
in Pakistan. The US armed forces had obtained permission
from the Pakistani Government to use the air base in its
campaign to oust the Taliban government in Afghanistan. The
US Special Forces A-team 344, commanded by Captain
Anthony Hagan was flown to this base a couple of days earlier
from Kamp K2 in Uzbekistan for its imminent deployment to
Urozgan province in Afghanistan. Quetta, a city in Pakistan‘s
Baluchistan Province, is located close to the border with
Southern Afghanistan.
With a request from Major Mike Dillon, I was assigned
by the Northern Alliance, to assist Captain Hagan as his
Afghan counterpart. And here we were, behind the enemy
lines, and this was not a rehearsal or an exercise. I knew this
was real, in 5 minutes we would be landing somewhere deep
inside Afghanistan, in the heartland of Taliban controlled
territory. Or more precisely, we would be landing at the core of
the Pashtoon dominated Taliban Heartland, in Oruzgan
Province, the birthplace of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the ruler
of Afghanistan under the Taliban.
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Since Major Dillon left Camp K2 for Northern
Afghanistan, Captain Hagan made preparations for his
deployment South. Apparently, he gathered as much
information as he could muster about the area and about the
people that he was assigned to connect with. Captain Hagan
was in contact with Major Dillon and was well aware of his
progress and was delighted to learn from Dillon that his
Afghan counterparts were exceptionally friendly and reliable
persons. This gave Hagan some assurance but still there were a
lot of unknown elements to his mission. This was exactly why
he asked Dillon for the help of an able Afghan counterpart to
accompany him in his mission south.
When the helicopters started hovering over the landing
zone, I could only see a small hurricane of dust that was
forming around us. At that moment, a lot of things were going
through my mind, and I was sure the same was true for Captain
Hagan, and maybe even more. After all, he was responsible for
the safety of his comrades on the mission. No matter how hard
their training, and how much experience they have had, this
was a war zone and a strange, unknown place to all of them. I
was wondering, ―Is this the rendezvous spot? Will we meet our
links? What if the Taliban had already got to them before or
arrival and now were waiting for us?‖
At that moment, those were the kind of thought that
were going through my mind. I was well aware of the fate of
commander Abdul-Haqq, a prominent Pashtoon leader from
Logar in the eastern Afghanistan. Apparently, he was expected
to lead the anti-Taliban push from the Pashtoon areas of the
east and south and perhaps become the next leader of the
country. On 26 October 2001, before linking up with the US
Special Forces assigned to him, he was captured by the Taliban
and executed on the spot.
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As the butterflies flapped around inside me, I wondered
if Captain Hagan was as nervous! My heart was beating very
fast so loud that I could hear the thumping sound. I looked at
his direction and found him very focussed and alert. Perhaps he
was not as nervous as I was. After all I was a civilian while he
was a much younger man, only 28 years old, at the prime time
of his life, a professional soldier, a member of an elite US
Army‘s Special Forces Delta Team. I imagined he must have
had similar missions in the past. This was not a ―mission
impossible‖ by any imagination, as I learned from my
experience in the north of Afghanistan during the last three
weeks. Dangerous, off course it was, but not impossible.
The helicopters landed amidst a storm of dust caused
by the helicopter rotors unsettling very dry desert dust. ―Go go
go‖ shouted flight commander in the helicopter and we quickly
hit the ground, one by one disappearing into the dust storm. To
make things worse, it was a pitch black moonless night with nil
visibility. However, through the cloud of dust and darkness I
saw some people who were waving lit lanterns toward us. In
the dim light of the lantern, I quickly recognised the face. He
was Mr. Hamid Karzai, the man Captain Hagan was supposed
to be linking with. We had a few good photos of him at the
airbase in Quetta and tried to picture him in my mind before
leaving to link up with him. I was pretty confident, as was
Captain Hagan, that we would recognise Karzai even in the
dark.
After landing we quickly started loading the
equipment, weapons, ammunitions and food rations onto the
waiting line of donkeys, mules and a few jeeps and pick-up
trucks and headed to Mr. Karzai‘s camp a few kilometres away.
I first met Captain Hagan at Camp K2 in southern
Uzbekistan before flying to Quetta. Anthony Hagan was
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Captain of Operations Detachment Alpha 344, A-team, of the
US Army‘s 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell,
Kentucky, United States. His 11 man A-team consisted of very
experienced and highly trained men in 6 different military
operations that were of the ages, between 30 to 33 years.
Captain Hagan and his A-team was assigned to link up
with Hamid Karzai, a Pashtoon leader from the South who has
apparently gathered a force of fighters and was planning to take
on Taliban forces in the South. I was surprisingly happy to see
that American strategists got it perfectly right this time that it
was absolutely essential to have credible Pashtoon allies in the
country, particularly in the South, the Heartland of the Taliban.
It was my firm believe that any attempt to oust the Taliban
from Kandahar must come from within people of the south,
from within Pashtoon tribes that contain the population of the
eastern and southern Afghanistan. The idea of moving the
Northern Alliance forces south to liberate Kandahar, as
suggested by President Bush in a press conference, was a bad
and futile idea. Perhaps the fast fluidity of the events leading to
the fall of Kabul made the American strategists think reason.
Although being a supporter of the Northern Alliance at
the time, I firmly believed that with the alliance mostly
comprised of non-Pashtoon minority ethnic groups, a stable
and strong central government in Afghanistan could only be
formed with the leadership of a prominent Pashtoon leader
who could also enjoy the trust of the Northern Alliance and
other non-Pashtoon groups. Pashtoons are the ethnic majority
in Afghanistan, and historically, apart from the brief Mujahidin
government, nearly all previous Afghan rulers were Pashtoons.
To shorten the war and quickly bring about the fall of
the Taliban government, the opening of another front, and
particularly, in the Pashtoon heartland around Kandahar, was
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essential. Such an outcome would have dealt a blow to the
Taliban and its allies‘ morale. This is why we were assigned to
link up with a Pashtoon leader, this time at the heartland of the
Taliban, and to help him topple Taliban rule over Kandahar.
The first job was establishing a temporary base and
drawing up a strategy to liberate Kandahar. Once we settled in,
we learned that Karzai‘s sight was firmly set on freeing Tarin
Kowt, the provincial capital of the Oruzgan province from the
Taliban rule. Although at the time he had only about 30 to 50
fighters with him, however, he was saying that a Force of 100
to 150 armed men waiting for him inside the town who were
ready for an uprising.
Oruzgan is in the South of the Hindukush Mountains.
Its provincial capital, Tarin Kowt is located some 200
kilometres North of Kandahar, the seat of the Taliban
Government. Although Kabul remains as the official Capital of
the Country and all government, foreign and international
agencies‘ headquarters located there, however, the Taliban
supreme leader ruled the country from Kandahar.
Before leaving Kamp K2 for the airbase near Quetta,
Hagan asked, ―Tell me Daoud how much do you know about
Mr. Hamid Karzai?‖
―I personally have not met Mr. Karzai, however, I
know that he was the Deputy Foreign Minister in the
Mujahidin‘s first Government after the demise of the
communist government of Dr. Najibullah in 1992.‖
―Do you know which part of Afghanistan he comes
from?‖ asked Hagan.
―He comes from Kandahar province. He is a member
of a well known Pashtoon tribe in the South. His father, who
was assassinated in Pakistan by his rival groups during his exile
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years there, was a former deputy speaker of the Afghan
Parliament during King Zahir Shah,‖ I answered.
―Any knowledge of his political views?‖ enquired
Hagan.
―I learned that since the Taliban rule, Hamid Karzai
was closely associated with the exiled King Zahir Shah‘s
initiatives to bring about peace and reconciliation to the nation
through the traditional Loya Jirgah. This is in fact a
Constitutional Grand Assembly process by the representatives
of all tribes and layers of the society. I myself firmly believe this
to be the only option for the Afghan people. I also learned that
Karzai believed in democracy, modernisation and participation
of women in social and political life of the nation, the rights
denied to them by the Taliban. More importantly, Karzai was
apparently trusted by King Zahir Shah, who had been in exile
in Italy since he was deposed in 1973 by his cousin, ex-Prime
Minister Mohammad Daoud.‖ I answered.
―Does he speak English?‖ enquired Hagan.
―I know that he was educated in the US and that he
spoke English.‖
As a matter of fact, soon after our arrival we realised
that Karzai spoke even better English than most of Captain
Hagan‘s Special Forces contingent.
Soon after our arrival, Hagan started to build a rapport
with Hamid Karzai, get to know him better and provide
opportunity, for Karzai, to get to know him as well. Building
such a rapport was essential, for Hagan, to the success of any
future military operations that they will undertake together to
dislodge Taliban, first from Tarin Kowt and then from
Kandahar. He would set and listen to Karzai for long periods
of time trying to learn as much information as he could, about
the people of the area, their customs, likes and dislikes. He
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would ask particular questions and listen to Karzai‘s answers
carefully. Hagan realised that Karzai knew a lot about his
people and the ethnic and political dynamics of his country.
As per Karzai, the mere knowledge that people of some
area or certain groups had sided with the Taliban does not
necessary mean they support Taliban‘s policies. The situation
may change in a flash and people will change sides. Therefore,
Karzai was particularly careful to encourage this and take
advantage of it. His knowledge of the Taliban movement was
particularly appealing to Hagan. Hagan admitted to me that
what he has learned from Karzai since he has met him have
reinforced and broadened his understanding of the Taliban and
the circumstances of their coming to power and the county‘s
present day situation. One day at Kamp K2, before moving to
Quetta and eventually to southern Afghanistan, Hagan asked
me ―What does the name ‗Taliban‘ means Daoud?‖
I answered ―Taliban is a Pashto word equivalent of the
Arabic word ‗Talaba‘ the plural form of ‗Talib‘ meaning
religious student.‖
―Where did they come from?‖
―As a political movement and military force, the
Taliban was originated initially from religious seminaries or
‗Madrassas‘ in Pakistan, in areas close to borders with
Afghanistan. They comprise mostly of Afghan refugee youth
whose parents migrated to the tribal border areas in Pakistan
from rural villages in Pashtoon dominated areas of eastern and
southern Afghanistan.‖ ―How come they became such a
dominant force in Afghan politics?‖ asked Hagan.
―They came to prominence during 1994-96, when they
captured Kandahar and extended their rule to Herat and Kabul
at a time when inter-Mujahedeen warlords fighting had turned
Afghanistan into a lawless country without a central authority.‖
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―How did this transformation, from being a religious
student to become a political and military force, happened?‖
asked Hagan.
―The formation of the Taliban movement was
encouraged and supported by the Pakistani retired General
Hamid Gull, the ex head of the ISI in Pakistan. They first
successfully defeated a warlord who had held up a caravan of
Pakistani trucks on their way to Iran and Turkmenistan near
Kandahar. Subsequently in November 1994, they seized
Kandahar where prominent members of the movement had
originated.‖ ―What was the motive of the Pakistani government
here? After all, the Mujahidin government in Afghanistan was
their closest friend, and they staked so much resource to bring
it to power,‖ enquired Captain Hagan.
―That is certainly true Captain. However, the chaotic
conditions in Afghanistan were not conducive to Pakistani
commercial and political interests. After years of hosting and
supporting Mujahedeen groups to over-throw the Soviet
backed leftist governments of Afghanistan, a lawless
Afghanistan without a central authority who could not provide
security of the trade routes between Pakistan Iran and the
newly established independent States of Central Asia through
Afghanistan, was not what Islamabad, or for that matter, the
United States wanted,‖ I explained.
―Furthermore, transporting vast oil and gas resources
of central Asia, particularly from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and
India, and onward to the world markets, required security of
the transit routes within Afghanistan.‖
―How did people of Afghanistan receive the Taliban‘s
capture of Kandahar? What did they do to bring stability in the
country?‖ asked Hagan.
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―After seizing Kandahar, the Taliban swiftly disarmed
ex-Mujahedeen groups and warlords, established an iron fisted
regime of Islamic Sharia law and order in the areas under their
control. From there on it was a roller coaster ride north
towards Kabul, through the Pashtoon dominated provinces of
Southern and Eastern Afghanistan. With minimum resistance
and fighting, Taliban captured areas, by buying out and
perusing some former Mujahedeen groups, in changing
allegiances. Furthermore, with a push from Peshawar toward
Kabul through the Khyber Pass, they engineered the surrender
of Jalalabad. In September 1995, the Taliban captured Herat
province, on the border with Iran. Rabbani and Massoud
withdrew in, September 2009, with most of their heavy
weapons, to Panjshir Valley north of Kabul. Taliban took
control of Kabul on September 27, 1996. After the fall of
Kabul, the Taliban then conquered non-Pashtoon provinces of
Bamyan and Ghor in central Afghanistan.‖
―That is an extraordinary success by the Taliban
indeed‖ commented Hagan. ―What happened to the Mujahidin
Government?‖ asked Hagan.
―As the Mujahedeen government in Kabul fled to the
north, they closed the Salang Highway from Kabul to the
North which runs through the Hindukush Mountains. They
established the Northern Alliance in a bid to try to stall the
roller coaster advance of Taliban by grouping together all non-
Pashtoon ex-Mujahedeen parties who saw Taliban, a pure
Pashtoon dominated movement, as a common enemy. By
September 2001, only a small enclave in the far North-East of
the country stretching from the border with Tajikistan to
Panjshir valley north of Kabul, was under the control of the
Northern Alliance under the command of the charismatic
warrior, Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated early on
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September 9, 2001 by Al-Qaeda assassins posing as TV
journalists with Arabic media,‖ I answered,
―What about the northern provinces of Afghanistan? I
understand that they are not ethnically Pashtoon dominated.
How did the Taliban managed to capture most of the North?‖
asked Hagan.
―The Taliban conquered most of the Northern
Afghanistan, after very heavy fighting and losses, with the help
of extremist Islamic students and other elements in Pakistan,
particularly in Madrassas which was run by Jihadist
organisations. They included Arabs and volunteers from the
Balkans, Caucasus, Pakistanis and some Westerners, which
included among them Britons, Americans and Australians.‖ I
answered.
I added that after consolidating their power in
Afghanistan, the Taliban welcomed jihadi movements from
around the Islamic world. Among the notable Jihadists who
got shelter in Afghanistan and were protected by the Taliban
was Osama bin Laden, a member of a prominent Saudi
business family with vast resources at his disposal.
I learned that information about bin Laden was
particularly interesting and important for Hagan. He was keen
to know as much as was possible from our discussions and
those with Karzai and some of his colleagues who had
firsthand knowledge on the matter. I explained to Hagan that
―After his expulsion from Saudi Arabia and subsequently from
Africa for promoting extremist Islamic Jihadi ideology, and
particularly for his alleged involvement in some anti American
bombings, bin Laden found himself and his organisation, Al-
Qaeda, warmly welcomed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. In
return, he bankrolled the regime. He has helped Taliban turning
Afghanistan into a breeding and training ground for
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international Islamic extremists and a medieval draconian state
for its citizens.‖
We realised that at the time Karzai‘s focus was to move
closer to Tarin Kowt and capture the air strip. Hagan‘s A-team
immediately began arming and training Karzai‘s fighters. He
was engaged in numerous discussions with Karzai about the
best ways to go about achieving their targets. Hagan and his
soldiers would pull maps, hang them on the wall and explore
with Karzai the most effective way of conducting the planned
operations. At the time Karzai had at his disposal only about 30
to 50 fighters. Although they had previous experience with
arms, in no way were they an adequate force to deploy in order
to capture Tarin Kowt.
Karzai apparently was counting on the support of the
town residents and surrounding villages. He was of the opinion
that once people saw him moving against the Taliban, they
would join his ranks. Hagan worked out a strategy with Karzai
to try to close down mountain passes against a counter attack
by the Taliban from Kandahar, and then place the town under
siege, hence provide opportunity for the residents to uprise
against the Taliban rule. As most of the Taliban leadership had
come from this area, seizing Tarin Kowt was viewed by Karzai
as very important it would deal a psychological blow to the
Taliban rank and file. For Karzai, the fall of Tarin Kowt would
pave the way for the fall of Kandahar, which was the ultimate
goal of Karzai.
Having fixed our minds on a common strategy, Captain
Hagan and Karzai started to build up a fighting force. Captain
Hagan brought in more supplies, arms and ammunition and
Karzai started recruiting more and more fighters. However,
from the hundreds of villagers who would come up to Karzai
they managed to form a credible mobile force of about 60
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fighters. However, lack of means of transportation, jeeps,
trucks, pickups, etc was a major obstacle. Such resources simply
did not exist.
Karzai was always on the satellite phone which he was
carrying with him. He was talking to a number of his sources
and contacts. Apparently, he had distributed a few phones to
some of his trusted fellow Pashtoon leaders and contacts in and
around Kandahar. He had some anonymous supporters at the
heart of the Taliban establishment, whose reports provided him
abreast of important information with Taliban movements and
their logistical conditions. He was getting news about the
movements of Taliban forces. There were credible reports that
the Taliban strategic military command and control apparatus
included up to five retired Pakistani military officers, at the
ranks of colonel to general assigned by the ISI, to steer the
Taliban, mostly untrained, forces and their legions of foreign
fighters.
There also were reports of the continued Pakistani
truck caravans of logistical support for the Taliban organised by
the ISI in spite of the assurances that were given in the contrary
by Pakistani Government to the US. Karzai would bitterly
complain to Hagan about these double dealings of the ISI. It
was unclear, however, if the ISI was acting on its own as a
parallel government within the Pakistani government, or was
implementing the Government‘s Policy. No matter which one
was the case, it was a common knowledge that Afghanistan
policy was ISI‘s domain within the Pakistani government.
Meanwhile, Hagan was passing these complaints to the US
authorities.
At the same time, Karzai was in contact with the
Northern Alliance leaders, particularly Dostum around Mazar-i-
Sharif and commander Fahim in Panjshir, who had assumed
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the leadership of the Alliance after the assassination of Ahmad
Shah Massoud. He was keen to know of the activities in the
area and around the country. By then most of the North of the
country, Herat in the West and Kabul, the capital city, have
been freed from the Taliban rule by the Northern Alliance
forces. In addition, satellite phone was Karzai‘s link with the
world media.
He was also constantly in touch with the organisers of
the proposed international conference to form an Interim
Afghan government acceptable to all ethnic groups of the
country.
The surprise news came on 16 November when Karzai
received the news that people of Tarin Kowt has staged an
uprising against the Taliban and had thrown them out of the
town. Although this was not directly engineered by Karzai,
however, his mere presence in the vicinity and the knowledge
that his forces are getting ready to take the town had
nevertheless prompted people to take action against the Taliban
administrators. This was a particularly important incident as
after the fall of Mazar-i-Sharif to the Northern Alliance on
Nov. 10; and subsequently the capital, Kabul, by the alliance on
Nov. 13, people were concerned about lack of noticeable
progress in the South.
At the same time, Karzai was in contact with the
Northern Alliance leaders, particularly Dostum around Mazar-i-
Sharif and commander Fahim in Panjshir, who had assumed
the leadership of the Alliance after the assassination of Ahmad
Shah Massoud. He needed information on the activities in the
area and around the country. By then most of the North of the
country, Herat in the West and Kabul, the capital city, have
been freed from the Taliban rule by the Northern Alliance
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forces. In addition, satellite phone was Karzai‘s link with the
world media.
He was also constantly in touch with the organisers of
the proposed international conference to form an Interim
Afghan government acceptable to all ethnic groups of the
country.
Karzai‘s fighters and the supporting US A-team
immediately moved to the town in order to protect its residents
from an almost certain Taliban retaliatory attack and
punishment which was expected to originate from Kandahar.
We drove all day, using whatever means of transportation
available including trucks, flat-back trucks, jeeps, cars, former
UN agencies vehicles left in the area and a couple of Caravans.
Tarin Kowt was a very uneasy place when we arrived. While the
A-team and Karzai men started to establish their headquarters
and set up their communication equipment, Karzai was asked
to appear at the Governor‘s house, to meet the newly formed
administration. All tribal leaders and the new Governor were in
attendance. Captain Hagan was also asked to join Karzai at the
Governor‘s place and was introduced to the tribal leaders by
Karzai. The new administration was happy to have Karzai, his
fighters and the A-team in the town as they had received the
news that the Taliban had dispatched a convoy of over one
hundred vehicles and around 500 men from Kandahar to exact
revenge upon the people of Tarin Kowt.
Hagan thought it would be a bloody and ugly fight as
they had not yet exactly had a fighting force of some strength at
their disposal. However, he could always call upon the US air
force for close support. Hagan then asked Karzai if he had
verified the information. Karzai answered yes, and added his
sources around Kandahar had reported a large Taliban convoy
of pick-up trucks moving up north, and by his calculation, they
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would reach Tarin Kowt in a day or so, given the conditions of
the roads.
Sitting among the Pashtoon tribal leaders with his
unshaven face, which by now was totally transformed with a
dense beard, Hagan noticed that one particular person was
staring at him and had been amused by his presence.
Hagan asked Karzai, ―Who is that guy who seems to be
so amused with my presence?‖
―Oh, he is a former Taliban commander who has
recently changed sides and helped with the fall of Tarin Kowt,‖
answered Karzai.
Hagan looked back at the person, and they both
laughed and shook hands.
With that Hagan thanked them and assured them that
he would do whatever was necessary to help defend the town
and excused himself to return to his newly formed base.
However, it was the first day of Ramadan, the Moslem‘s fasting
month and they were insisting he stay for dinner and a cup of
tea. He stayed another 10 to 20 minutes, had a little food and
returned to the base. But before leaving he asked Karzai to
provide him with as large a number of able bodies as he could
because he needed to organise the town‘s defence.
It was apparent that the time of real action was fast
approaching. This was the type of thing that Hagan and his A-
team were trained and prepared for. He had his 11 man Special
Forces team and a group of about 60 very motivated, and
probably experienced, local fighters. Was that enough to defend
the Town against a large force of about 500 very angry Taliban
who were on their way to exact revenge? Probably it wouldn‘t
be enough.
During that evening Captain Hagan and his men
examined the options and studied the maps carefully. His men
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took the news of looming battle very professionally. They came
up with a plan to go out and find a high ground, a hill or
mountain top and set up a watch post from where they would
direct air attacks on the coming Taliban convoy. His weapons
sergeant was busy examining the maps and trying to get to
know the terrain better. His three communication sergeants
alerted the higher command and various other command and
control centres about what was coming their way. His Air
Force combat controller was busy alerting the air force and the
navy on the forthcoming battle and the need for the air support
they would require given the circumstances
By midnight, a good number of aircraft were patrolling
up and down the major routes from Kandahar to Tarin Kowt
trying to locate the convoy. Around 2.00am the next morning
Captain Hagan‘s Air Force combat controller reported to him
that the pilots had reported seeing a convoy of vehicles on the
way up north. Soon an F-18 fighter plane spotted an advanced
unit of Taliban convoy, up to 10 vehicles which was not that
far from the valley. At this point all of the A-team members
were in one room. The controller looked at Hagan for a
decision. In silence, they all looked at him. They were
experienced professionals and had been in war situations
before. However, as a team this was their first moment of
engaging in actual combat with the Taliban. Hagan looked at
his watch, looked around and asked his team to stand by. Then
he went out for a brief chat with Karzai about the situation. As
soon as he met him he asked if there were any friendly forces
or groups of people coming up from the direction of Kandahar
to meet him. Karzai responded ―No‖. ―Whoever is coming up
at this minute are Taliban‖. Hagan returned to his ―situation
room‖ if you can call it as such, and looked Thomas, his Air
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Force Combat controller, in the eye and said: ―we ‗ll smoke
‗em.‖
By 4:00 am, about 30 local fighters were gathered.
Karzai was expecting that many more fighters would converge
after sunrise. But Hagan cold not wait any longer. He had to
get out with any number of men at his disposal and set up
some defences. So they drove out towards the outskirts of the
Town. From studying the maps he realized that to reach Tarin
Kowt, Taliban fighters had to cross over two mountain passes.
He was hoping to find high ground overlooking the mountain
pass that the Taliban would chose to cross over. After driving
some distance, he was pleasantly surprised to find himself on
the edge of a plateau overlooking a bowl shaped valley where
the mountain pass he spotted on the map was just on the other
end of the bowl. He thought this was perfect position. Better
than he expected. This would give him the advantage of
directing the fighter aircraft to bomb the approaching vehicles,
one by one, as they appeared over the pass. So they stopped
and his men started to disperse the equipment from the trucks,
and began installing them in position and organising the
Afghan fighters into defensive formations. Knowing that the
number of the fighters at his disposal would not be adequate to
defeat the large approaching Taliban task force, his primary
objective was to pin them down here until Karzai could send
more fighters from the Town to join their ranks.
Hagan‘s men positioned their laser target designation
equipment, radios and antennas. One of his men who were
scanning the pass with his binoculars reported spotting a
parked car at the pass. He told him to keep an eye on him.
Then the race started. The Taliban convoy‘s vehicles begun to
appear, and one by one started to race down the valley, on the
dusty road. Thomas was in contact with the aircraft overhead,
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and with the laser target spotting equipment, they started to
direct the aircraft bombing. The first bomb dropped was off
target. However, the next one and the ones after were right on
the spot. Captain Hagan was confident that they could
eliminate the convoy, with the help of the air force, right there.
However, the group of 30 or so Afghan fighters with him had
no idea of Captain Hagan and his A-team‘s capabilities and
access to resources and fire power. All they could see at the
time was that from a single rocky hilltop a bunch of Americans
were trying to engage and stop a very large mobile force of well
equipped and well trained over 500 elite Taliban soldiers who
had been sent over from their garrisons in Kandahar to crush
the Tarin Kowt uprising. To them, dictated by past experience
in fighting, they needed to get back as quickly as they could to
the Town and organise a larger force and engage Taliban from
a position where they could inflict damage to them. Captain
Hagan realised this and tried to persuade them to stay.
However, in the end they had to abandon the position and
retreat to the Town in a rush. He thought, he should have
taken possession of the vehicle‘s keys but it was too late for
that.
When we got back to the town Karzai had more people
with him. Hagan briefly explained to Karzai what had
happened and told him he had to get back as soon as possible
to his position outside the Town. With that he asked some of
his men to drive the vehicles and they rushed back outside the
Town. It was about 8:30 in the morning. On the way back, a
pilot reported that the Taliban convoy advance element had
already taken their previous observation position. Therefore,
they took positions just outside the Town and set themselves
up for the battle. By this time large numbers of the villagers
were rushing to join them, including old men and young
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children. Hagan‘s men were surrounded by all these non
combatants while they were trying to direct the aircraft towards
the approaching convoy. All Captain Hagan‘s communications
personnel were busy reporting to various command centres.
Hagan was hoping to pin down Taliban outside the Town and
do not let them enter the Town. He knew that if they manage
to enter the Town, in large numbers, they would not be able to
do anything to defend the Town. If faced with that situation,
the only thing he could do was to get Karzai and his men and
leave the Town as quickly as they could.
They were busy directing the air strikes when they
heard small arms fire from the northeast flanks of the Town. If
the Taliban had managed to enter the Town from that
direction, in large numbers, then that would have been the end
of them. Some of Captain Hagan‘s men wanted to go there and
join the Town‘s defenders, but Hagan wanted them together in
one spot in case they were forced to retreat. By 10 am sound of
small arms from the northeast direction became sporadic and
they got the news that the Town defenders had repelled the
Taliban infiltrators. Apparently, there were only about 10 to 20
of them who had managed to break from the advanced task
force and make their way to the northeast flank and attack the
town.
The striking aircraft were making their way back
towards Kandahar and bombing the advancing Taliban task
force which was spread along the way between Kandahar and
Tarin Kowt. By 10:30am the pilots reported that the convoy
had been broken up. A large number of their vehicles had been
destroyed and the remaining ones were retreating, moving
south in a hurry. By then Captain Hagan realised that they had
achieved victory in this battle. They have managed to defend
the Town with the minimum number of fighting men and at
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the same time inflict heavy causalities on the Taliban. The next
day Karzai told Hagan: ―Captain, I had a visit by a group of
Mullahs you know religious leaders.‖ ―Oh, what was the
purpose?‖
―They were grateful to us and the American team.‖
―That is interesting. I thought they would be protesting
that we accompany you. What did they say?‖
―Oh no it is all good news Captain. They mentioned
that if it were not for the Americans, the Taliban would have
killed a large number of people in Tarin Kowt.‖ ―I guess we
have established a good rapport with them now. This is a good
sign.‖
―Absolutely, such rapport would be crucial in our next
big step, advancing towards Kandahar.‖
―I agree. What do you think of the Taliban defeat here?
Do you think they will mount another attack?‖
―I doubt it. I think their defeat was comprehensive. We
get this feedback from our contacts along the way to Kandahar,
and they all testify that we have achieved a very important
victory. I think we have broken the Taliban back bone
psychologically. They are in a state of despair, and we have to
take advantage of it.‖ ―Sure, and we have to focus on building a
larger force now. We will need a lot of fighters if we are going
to take on Kandahar.‖ ―Absolutely, I will concentrate on this
task from now.‖
Kandahar is the largest city in Southern Afghanistan
and commands valuable trade and communication routs
between Kabul, Iran and Central Asia with closest distance to
Quetta and particularly, Karachi, the largest metropolitan area
and the main port city in Pakistan.
After the victory in defeating the Taliban in Tarin
Kowt, Karzai‘s satellite phone would not stop ringing. One
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minute he would be in conversation with a tribal leader far
away, the next minute he would be on the phone with Dostum
or other Northern Alliance leaders urging them to make sure
they treat the prisoners well. Once off the phone from
Dostum, he would have an interview request from the BBC or
CNN and the next hour he was briefing the Bonn Conference
participants about the political and military situation on the
ground in southern Afghanistan. Hagan‘s men were most of
the time busy trying to ensure the satellite phone batteries were
powered. It appeared that Karzai‘s satellite phone was his most
effective weapon against the Taliban and in promoting himself
as a potential leader. He was using it very effectively.
Over the next two weeks, Karzai and Hagan were busy
preparing for the eventual march towards Kandahar. A large
number of people from many parts of the Oruzgan province
were converging on Tarin Kowt almost daily. Tribal leaders,
religious leaders were coming to meet with Karzai, to show
their support and readiness to march with him to Kandahar.
This was the time of changing allegiances. Many former Taliban
supporters would change sides. They were not aligned with
them necessarily from an ideological point of view. The
alignments were in most cases due to disillusionment with
former mujahedeen warlords who were constantly fighting with
each other and the lack of other credible options. Now that
Karzai was there, a local Kandahari Pashtoon, and had proven
that he commands authority and respect among other Pashtoon
tribal leaders in the region, and most importantly, has real
power in the form of a formidable US air force and logistical
support behind him, people came out of their shells and started
to express themselves and were ready to play their part in
overthrowing the Taliban government in Kandahar.
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One day in the last week of November Karzai held a
planning meeting with Captain Hagan. Karzai mentioned to
Hagan:
―Captain, the momentum we have created here has
reached Kandahar itself. I receive credible signals that the
Taliban are willing to surrender to us, rather than anybody
else.‖
―That is certainly good news. What is your reading of
the situation in Kandahar?‖ asked Hagan.
―It is chaotic, to say the least. The bombings of Taliban
headquarters, communication facilities and garrisons have
created panic among Taliban. Their defeat in trying to retake
Tarin Kowt has made them think that we will soon be upon
them with a very large force. They apparently are not exactly
sure of our strength on the ground. ―
―What makes you so sure they prefer to surrender to
us?‖
―Oh the reason is very clear to me. They do not like to
see any of the Northern Alliance forces marching south. They
have bitter experiences with them; particularly they remember
very well what had happened when they first moved on Mazar-
i-Sharif some years ago. They were massacred by the Northern
Alliance.‖
―Then we have huge leverage. What prevents them
surrendering now, before it is too late for them?‖
―From what I hear, there seem to be a large number of
Al-Qaeda forces, up to 5000 foreign mercenaries, in Kandahar.
Furthermore, reports suggest that around 100 volunteer
madrassa students cross daily from Pakistan to reinforce the
Taliban. These guys are not interested in surrendering. They
know people will not show mercy on them.‖
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―Are they actively preventing Taliban from leaving or
surrendering?‖
―Apparently yes, they seal off the roads and threaten to
kill anyone trying to escape from Kandahar. There is also one
other element. My sources close to the Taliban leadership are
telling me that the Pakistani Intelligence, the ISI, is
discouraging the Taliban to give up the fight.‖
―This is very disturbing and totally contrary to the
assurances that they have given to the United States. I need to
report this back to the US authorities requesting something to
be done pretty quickly. How credible you think the reports
are?‖
―They are credible and very specific, which suggest that,
the head of the ISI who travelled to Kandahar at the head of a
very high level military and intelligence delegation on
September 17-18 and again on September 28, urged the Taliban
leadership to resist the US pressure and do not surrender.‖
―This perhaps explains the continued logistical supply
of the Taliban by the ISI. It looks as we need to start moving
down to Kandahar sooner. ―
―Look Captain, we have a large number of volunteers
now and they seem to be highly motivated. Perhaps a lot of bad
guys are also among them, but we could sort of make our
selection and try to take the best with us.‖
―What if we march down to Kandahar and the
surrender does not materialise? I do not have the kind of army
right now that I would like to take to capture Kandahar, in case
we were forced to engage in a full-scale battle.‖
―I am aware of that. I think I need to be closer to
Kandahar, say at a place about two hours driving distance, so
people and Taliban in Kandahar could reach us to talk
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surrender. That way we have encouraged and helped the
dissidents to switch sides before it is too late.‖
―OK then. I think that is a good strategy. Let‘s work on
it.‖
With that Hagan and Karzai decided to find a suitable location
closer to Kandahar and to relocate their headquarters there.
They set their eyes on a town called Shahwali Kowt near
Kandahar as their next target. Shahwali Kowt District is
situated in the northern part of Kandahar Province. It borders
Khakrez District to the west, Naish District and Oruzgan
Province to the north, Zabul Province to the east and Daman
and Arghandab districts to the south. In 2001, the population
of Shahwali Kowt was 34,000. The district center is located in
the most southern part and is a stronghold of the Taliban.
***
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Debriefing at Kamp K2
It was late in the afternoon of 13 November 2001 when
the C130 cargo plane carrying Major Dillon landed at K2
airbase in Uzbekistan. The debriefing session was conducted
that very evening. Present at the session was, among other high
ranking officers, the Special Forces Commander, General
Jeffery Roberts who had arrived from the US Central
Command Headquarters in Tampa Florida to attend the
meeting, the commanding Officers of the three Special Forces
Battalions operating in Afghanistan, the head of the CIA‘s
Special Operations Branch for Afghanistan and a CIA agent
fresh from the field in Afghanistan and a high ranking official
from the State Department. It was agreed that the strategies
adapted, choosing to use the Afghans who were fighting the
Taliban by the help of small US liaison elements and logistical
and airpower support, were overwhelming successful so far all
over the country. Taliban were defeated in the North, West and
in the Capital Kabul and a coalition of tribal forces had
replaced Taliban in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar,
Laghman and Kunar.
However, the pressing concern for the US was the
whereabouts and capturing of the Al Qaeda leadership,
including their leader Sheikh Osama bin Laden believed to be
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the mastermind of the September 11 attacks on America. All
the intelligence reports agreed on one matter: the Al Qaeda
leadership had moved to Jalalabad, the Provincial capital of
Nangarhar Province, a City located about 170 Kilometres east
of Kabul and about 60 Kilometres West of the Pakistan border
at Torkham close to the famous Khyber Pass on the highway
to Peshawar.
Major Dillon was told that he was to deploy
immediately to eastern Afghanistan, in the province of
Nangarhar, and his task was to orchestrate the capture, alive or
dead, of the America‘s now enemy number one, the Al Qaeda
Chief Osama bin Laden and his top aids. He was assigned as
the field Commanding Officer of all the Special Forces Teams
in Afghanistan and was asked to deploy his Battalion‘s third
team, the US Special Forces Alpha-team 666, commanded by
Captain Sean Doyel, 39 years old Giant‘s supporter from New
York, to eastern Afghanistan. News from Jalalabad indicated
that from early hours of the morning on that day the city has
come under the control of a tribal Council called ―The Eastern
Shura‖, some of its members were suspected of being Taliban
and Al Qaeda sympathisers. However, the CIA agents present
at the debriefing session were quick to point out that this was
not anything new as the political and military allegiances in
Afghanistan are short lived.
John Baker, whom Dillon remembered from the
previous debriefings, pointedly told Dillon to remember some
names: Hashmat Aziz, Haji Zaland Shaadman, Yousof Khalid,
Haji Kabir and Haji Zakhil.
Baker told Dillon that Hashmat Aziz was a member of
the Pashayee ethnicity from the neighbouring Laghman
Province in the north of Jalalabad. With only primary school
education, he was an anti-Taliban fighter allied to former
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Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Masood. Aziz and
his men fought against the Taliban in the north for six years.
He commands a sizeable anti Taliban force.
Baker mentioned to Dillon that although Hashmat Aziz
would be an extremely useful commander to have on the
ground, to pursue the remnant of the Taliban, and particularly
the Al Qaeda foreign fighters, however, he is not the right
person to rule the area as he is not a local Pashtoon. For that
purpose, Baker said, they have already lured Haji Zaland
Shaadman, back from exile in France. A former Mujahideen
commander under Yousof Khalid, Zaland Shaadman is a
member of the Pashtoon Khugyani tribe, the largest and most
powerful tribe of the area. He speaks fluent English and
French.
Baker went on to say that a key power broker in the
area was Maulvi Yousof Khalid, a former Mujahedeen faction
head during the War against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan,
though not particularly fond of the Americans, he was among
the seven resistance leaders, that would receive the third-largest
share of the more than $3 billion of weapons and funds that
the C.I.A. invested in the jihad. Yousof Khalid was also a
Khugyani tribal leader who supported bin Laden and Taliban,
however, has remained like Jalalabad patriarch. In fact, during
the jihad years against the Soviets, bin Laden first met Khalid
and became very close friends.
Baker went on to say that when bin Laden returned to
Afghanistan from his base in Sudan in May 1996, it was Khalid
and his key commander, Hajji Abdul Qadir, who first invited
him and sheltered his family. And it was also Khalid who, later
that year, would introduce bin Laden to the Taliban leader
Mullah Muhammad Omar, a protégé of Khalid during the jihad
years. Baker mentioned that Hajji Abdul Qadir was the
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Governor of Nangarhar Province and was toppled by the
Taliban when they took over in eastern Afghanistan.
―Why are we going to have Khalid as an ally when he
has such special relationship with the enemy?‖ asked Dillon!
Baker‘s answer was that it is important to ensure Khalid joins
anti Taliban operations because firstly he is an influential tribal
leader, and secondly, his former commanders control a large
area and are the closest local forces to Tora Bora, the cave
complex in the Spin Ghar (White Mountain) on the border
with Parachinar in Pakistan which is believed to be used by the
Al Qaeda as a safe base.
However, Baker commented that so far Khalid had
refused to be actively involved in the pursuit of bin Laden, and
was claiming to have been retired, and if that to be the case, we
should go straight to commanders such as Hashmat Aziz, Haji
Zaland and Haji Zakhil.
Talking about Khalid‘s former commanders, Baker
went on to say, a third militia leader with considerable force in
the area was Haji Zakhil, a 27 year old commander.
Involvement of both these men in the anti Taliban anti Al
Qaeda operations were considered very crucial by Baker.
―I reckon Hashmat Aziz, Haji Zaland Shaadman and
Haji Zakhil are the key men that you would need to work with
very closely in the field Major Dillon‖ concluded John Baker.
―What are the chances that bin Laden and his Al Qaeda
leadership have not crossed the border to Pakistan by now?‖
asked Dillon.
―It has been made clear to the Pakistani leaders that
they have only one chance: to fully cooperate with us in the
capturing bin Laden and his lieutenants and bringing them to
justice, or face the prospect of being bombed back to the stone
ages,...they have chosen to cooperate,‖ answered John Baker.
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―What practical steps have been taken by them on the
ground?‖ inquired Dillon.
―As you know the Navy and the Air Force are using
Pakistani air space to conduct raids on Taliban strongholds in
Afghanistan, and in addition, some of their airbases are being
used by us as well, and Pakistan has agreed to deploy over 4000
soldiers, to seal the borders and capture those who cross over,‖
replied John baker.
―How much do you know about the Al Qaeda bases
that you mentioned, like ‗Tora Bora‘?‖ asked Dillon.
―Tora Bora, means ‗Black Gorge‘ in Pashto language, is
a base in the Spin Ghar Mountains about 50 Kilometres South
of Jalalabad and about 10 Kilometres from the border with
Pakistan at Parachinar. At this time of the year, with no roads,
those 10 Kilometres of pine forested mountain peaks and
passes would be covered with a thick layer of snow and would
be very difficult to cross over‖, answered Baker. ―Tora Bora
itself is located at steep valleys and includes fortified caves. It
contains tunnels, bunkers and camps which have been dug
deeply into the mountains as part of a C.I.A. financed complex
built for the mujahedeen during the jihad years against the
Soviets. According to some stories, bin Laden would drive a
bulldozer himself across the mountain peaks, constructing
defensive tunnels and storage depots.‖
***
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In hot pursuit
(Eastern Afghanistan, November 2001)
Dillon spent 14th of November preparing to move a US
Special Forces Alpha Team to eastern Afghanistan. So, Dillon
arrived at the Jalalabad airport on the 15th of November. Major
Dillon was accompanied by a US Special Forces Alpha team
and his command and control apparatus. After arrival he
established his base at the city‘s airport. Since his arrival, Dillon
had extensive discussions with local commanders Hashmat
Aziz, Haji Zaland and Haji Zakhil. They all agreed to
participate in a three pronged attack on Tora Bora and the
sealing off the border areas to prevent the escape of Al Qaeda
foreign fighters. Commander Hashmat Aziz proudly boasted to
Dillon that he had shot dead three Arab members of Al Qaeda
himself when he took over the security of Jalalabad.
From our interviews with local commanders we learnt
that the Taliban rule collapsed in Jalalabad, on the night of
November 12. On that day Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the then
Taliban governor of Jalalabad handed over the city to Yousof
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Khalid and late in the afternoon of the next day, a formal
coalition of tribal forces formed a government called the
Eastern Shura (the Eastern Council) with Haji Nasir as the
Governor, Haji Zaland Shaadman as its military chief and
Hashmat Aziz as the Security Chief of Jalalabad City.
With request from Dillon, Commander Zaland had
introduced a number of local residents to him who had seen or
had information about the whereabouts of the Sheikh and his
foreign fighters. Dillon was keen to gather all the clues to guide
him to the Al Qaeda leadership. Therefore, he did not waste
any time and as soon as learned that some eye witnesses were
brought in, he rushed to interview them.
―Tell me when you last saw Shiekh Osama bin Laden?‖
asked Dillon.
"I saw the Shiekh at 9 p.m. in the evening of Tuesday,
10 November‖, replied Bazmat Khan a local resident of
Jalalabad.
―How can you be sure of the timing and the date?‖
―Oh I am pretty sure of the time because immediately
after that I listened to the BBC Pashto language news broadcast
that begins at 9:30 pm.‖
―Please describe what you saw, do not leave any small
detail out.‖
―I was standing in front of my guest house. I saw the
Sheikh exited from a white Toyota Corolla, the sixth or seventh
car in a long convoy of cars. He had a Kalakov machinegun
hanging on his chest. He was talking to his guards and then
moved towards a mosque surrounded by about 50 to 60 armed
guards mostly Arabs. Waiting in front of the mosque was
Maulvi Abdul Kabir, the Taliban governor of Jalalabad and also
present was Obaidullah the son of Yousof Khalid. The
governor and Sheikh embraced each other and were holding
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hands. The two men then spoke with Obaidullah. It looked like
they said an extended sort of good bye to each other before the
Sheikh and his men got back to their cars and left for Tora
Bora‖ answered Bazmat Khan. ―Later we learned that they
were negotiating the surrender of the city to Yousof Khalid
until the formation of the Eastern Shura.‖
―How do you know they went to Tora Bora?‖
―Oh it is a common knowledge here. Many people
along the road from Jalalabad to Pachir Wa Agam have seen
the convoy headed to Tora Bora‖.
―Where is Tora Bora?‖
―Tora Bora is located in Pachir Wa Agam Alaqadari
(sub-district) of the Khogyani Woleswali (district) which is
about 50 Kilometres South East of Jalalabad on the border
with Parachinar in Pakistan. It is a forested high mountain area
and with its extensive caves and ammunition depots, used to be
a base for Yousof Khalid‘s Mujahedin fighters when they were
fighting the Soviets and the Communist Afghan Government
of Dr. Najibullah.‖
Bazmat Khan once worked as a guard at a nearby base
for Taliban. Bazmat Khan reported that the Al Qaeda convoy,
mostly four-wheel drive trucks and six armoured vehicles left
the town in a hurry.
The next person Dillon interviewed was Malik Khalid
Gul from Upper Pachir which is located next to the border
with Parachinar in Pakistan. ‗Malik‘ in local language means
Tribal Chieftain. He had about 32 families under his
jurisdiction in the area.
―When you last saw Sheikh bin Laden?‖ asked Dillon.
―Two days before Kabul was retaken by the Northern
Alliance from Taliban,‖ answered Malik Khalid Gul. Dillon
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knew that Taliban left Kabul on 12 November. That meant bin
Laden was in Jalalabad on November 10.
―Where was that?‖
―We were invited to the Jalalabad Islamic Centre that
day. After we had a very nice lunch, late in the afternoon
Sheikh came to talk to us. I was seated at the second row;
therefore, I had perfect vision of him. All the tribal leaders were
present at the gathering.‖
Dillon remembered from the debriefing session at the
K2 base that the Jalalabad Islamic Centre, which was funded by
the Saudi‘s, was later used as the Taliban's intelligence
headquarters in Jalalabad.
―Describe him to me and tell me what said in the
gathering?‖ asked Dillon.
―Sheikh was dressed in a loose gray clothing, and
wearing a camouflage jacket. His bodyguards, about 15 of
them, were dressed in green fatigues carrying Kalashnikovs and
grenade launchers. As Sheikh entered the basement, there were
shouts of God is great! Down with America! Down with Israel!
Sheikh said that Americans wanted to invade Afghanistan, but
if we remain united, and believe in Allah, we will give them the
same lesson as we gave to the Russian invaders some years ago.
He asked us to be united and to support Arab brothers in the
battle field. He said he was very happy with the support he had
received from the tribal leaders so far, and he will pay tribal
leaders money for distribution to all the families in their areas‖
responded Malik Khalid Gul.
―Did he give you money?‖
―Yes, after he left his treasurer gave me about 15,000
Pakistani Rupees.‖ ―Did everybody receive the same amount?‖
―No. Those Maliks with larger tribes received much more than
me.‖ Dillon then asked Malik Khalid Gul if he knew where
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Sheikh and his men went after the meeting in Jalalabad. He
answered that early the next morning he went back to his
village at Upper Pachir and eyewitnesses had told him that the
Arab convoy split up at the foot hills of the mountains, one
group went to the village of Mileva to the north-east of Tora
Bora in the district of Deh Bala, and the other group to the
village of Garikhil which is near the Tora Bora caves. He said
the Arabs mostly sent their families to the village of Mileva.
Malik Khalid Gul added that he spoke with Malik Loqman
Khan, chief the village of Garikhil, who told him that from
there the Arabs divided their men and assigned them to
different caves and have asked villagers to help in digging
trenches for them. They were positioning men and weapons at
various mountain peaks and were getting ready for the eventual
war. He further added that Malik Loqman Khan and he himself
were very terrified of the possibility of Americans bombing
their villages because of the Arabs presence there. Therefore
the villagers sent women and children to other villages. Malik
Khalid Gul mentioned that the nearby caves and high peaks
and passes have been under US bombardment for some weeks
now. He complained that a number of innocent villagers have
also been killed by many inaccurate bombings including
Najubullah, the 16 year old son of Malik Loqman Khan. He
pointedly asked Dillon not to bomb the villages.
After this interview, Dillon concluded that bin Laden
and his legion of foreign fighters, mostly Arabs, had arrived in
Jalalabad on the 10th of November 2001 from various parts of
Afghanistan, rallied tribal leaders at the Jalalabad Islamic Centre
that evening, met with the Jalalabad Governor and since then
have moved to his bases at the stronghold of Tora Bora in the
Spin Ghar ―White Mountains‖ on the Pakistani border.
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Dillon wanted to have a good understanding of the
area. He carried with him detailed maps and satellite
photographs of the area. However, he needed to talk to locals
about it so he called local commanders Haji Zaland Shaadman,
Hashmat Aziz and Haji Zakhil for a meeting at his
headquarters. Local commanders estimated that probably there
were around 2000 of Arab and Chechen fighters with bin
Laden at Tora Bora. They said some of them are there with
their families. Saadman said that the fight would be a tough
one. He said Al Qaeda fighters have told them through their
envoys that they will fight until the martyrdom. Hashmat Aziz
was of the opnion that that bin Laden himself might be
involved in the battle in a commanding role as he fought the
Soviets in the 1980s, there.
Dillon asked Shaadman, who was a former Khalid
commander and had fought in Tora Bora during the jihad, to
tell him why the caves were important for bin Laden.
"The caves are rugged, formidable and isolated, but if
you know them, you can easily come and go. However, if you
do not know them very well, the penetration would be very
difficult. In some places, the caves rise to 3,500 metres. For
many years, the Soviets bombed them unsuccessfully with
everything they had. They are also very close, only 10
kilometres, to the border with Pakistan which makes them so
important for access and resupply. However, at this time of the
year the high passes are covered with snow and cross over to
Parachinar in Pakistan would be very difficult if not
impossible," answered Shaadman.
He added, ―Bin Laden knows the caves as well as me
and Khalid. Bin Laden had fought in nearby Jaji and Ali Khel
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and in the battle of Jalalabad in 1989. He had spent 10 years
over there. Therefore he knows every mountain pass and trail.
This is why he has chosen this area to stage his last stand.‖
Dillon then asked them about the position of their
militia forces. He learned that Shaadman forces were mostly on
the eastern flank of Tora Bora while Haji Zakhil and Hashmat
Aziz were positioned in the middle and left flanks.
Shaadman asked Dillon about how they were going to
lay siege to the Tora Bora and closing the escape routes. He
added that he is prepared to close the escape routes towards
Torkham, the border crossing at the mouth the Khaybar
passage. Dillon answered that on the Pakistani side there would
be a force of about 4000 Pakistani armed forces closing the
escape routes.
He then asked Hashmat Aziz to arrange for the closure
of the escape routes as his militia forces were mostly positioned
on the left flank. Hashmat Aziz mentioned that to block the
borders with Pakistan, he would assign a recently recruited
commander Ilyas Khel. Illyas Khel was a former Taliban
commander and his militia were positioned in the areas close to
the border on the left flank. He said he would have to pay Ilyas
Khel‘s militia to undertake the job. Dillon asked how much
would be the cost. Aziz answered about 300,000 Pakistani
Rupees or US$5,000 and he would need to provide them with a
satellite phone to keep us informed. ―You will be provided
with cash and the phone,‖ Dillon told Aziz.
Shaadman seemed clearly unhappy about these
arrangements. He commented that Pakistan army and Pakistani
Intelligence Services (ISI) were both very close friends of the
Taliban and their Arab allies and the main source of their
logistical support. He was wondering that how it would be
possible for them to betray this friendship and help capture
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fleeing Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. Dillon answered that he
has been assured of the Pakistani assistance in this respect and
mentioned that the force mobilisation by Pakistan had already
started.
Shaadman also seemed unhappy about recruiting
former Taliban commanders such as Ilyas Khel to close the
escape routes of their former brothers in arms. He complained
that commander Afzal Gul, a Khalid man, had retained the
Taliban heavy fighting equipment, and he and another Khalid
man, Mohammed Amin, has travelled into Tora Bora and
contacted Al Qaeda forces on several occasions in the last
week. Aziz responded that with the kind of money that he
would be paying Ilyas Khel, ―he would be selling his own uncle
if asked.‖
Major Dillon had his command and control apparatus
plus US Special Forces A-team 666 at his disposal. They
consisted of spotters, laser guiders, communication officers, air
combat operators, logistical officers. At the K2 debriefings, he
was told that once on the field he would be responsible for
guiding the air raids in the area to inflict maximum damage on
the enemy and to curtail civilian casualties. Although by then a
US Marines Division had taken position at the Bagram Air
Base, located 50 Kilometres North of Kabul, only about 200
kilometres from Tora Bora, the US High Command had
decided to use only small units of the US Special Forces to help
the Afghan local militia forces in the operations to capture or
kill the remnants of the Taliban and Al Qaeda Forces and rely
on Pakistan armed forces, to seal the borders from the
Pakistani side.
In the course of the next five days, Dillon assigned
small units of Special Forces to accompany each of the three
militia forces who moved closer to the foot hills of the
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mountains to attack Tora Bora and capture Al Qaeda fighters.
The US and the Northern Alliance Helicopters were bringing in
more and more supplies for the Afghan militia troops to the
area and the heavy equipment left over by the Taliban, tanks
and armoured vehicles, were leading the way.
By 20 November, Afghan fighters were fighting their
way up the foothills from various valleys and closing in on the
lowest tier of the caves, which on maps it was little more than
one and a half kilometres from the bottom of the mountains,
but with thick snow and steep slopes, it was four hours climb
for the Afghan fighters. While they were fighting with a host of
hand held weapons and tanks blasting the valleys dividing
snow-capped peaks, American B-52 heavy bombers were
raining down bombs from above. The US Special Forces, with
their faces wrapped in black and white scarfs and their laser
target designators in hand, were pointing to the mouths of
caves and bunkers on the mountains to accurately locate the
targets for bombing raids. Dillon noticed, with satisfaction, that
the US bombing had become markedly more accurate. Afghan
commanders were increasingly praising the accuracy of the
bombings.
By November 28 the Afghan militia forces of Hashmat
Aziz, Haji Zaland Shaadman and Haji Zakhil with the help of
US Special Forces Alpha teams had made considerable
advances towards the higher grounds of Tora Bora where the
main body of the caves located. They were gearing up for a
crucial assault to capture the caves and overcome the resistance.
It was then that Major Dillon received urgent orders to relocate
immediately.
Dillon was told that his replacement officer, Colonel
McNamara of the US Special Forces and his command and
control apparatus were on their way. It was about one o‘clock
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in the afternoon when three helicopters carrying Colonel
McNamara and his command and control team arrived.
Dillon introduced Col. McNamara to the Afghan militia
commanders in the field and briefed him on the situation. He
expressed his concern about the possibility of the main targets
fleeing the area as he was getting reports of increasing incidents
of Al Qaeda fighters on the run. He was not sure if they had
achieved laying a siege on the complex, with only mountain
peaks and passes on the South and pro Taliban tribal-chieftains
on the other sides, of the caves complex.
***
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Kandahar: Vanishing of the invisible
Major Dillon had orders to enter the Oruzgan Province
in Southern Afghanistan together with his command and
control apparatus and assume the role of military advisor to Mr.
Hamid Karzai. His task was to link up with the US Special
Forces A-team 344, who was providing support to Mr. Hamid
Karzai. This was as a result of the recognition of the ever-
increasing importance and role of Hamid Karzai in the ongoing
campaign to remove Taliban from power and his possible
leading role in the future government formation being
negotiated in Bonn Conference, in Germany. Dillon‘s job was
to help him capture Kandahar, the sentimental powerbase of
the Taliban movement which was the only major city in
Afghanistan still under the control of the Taliban.
It was almost one hour since Major Dillon and his team
boarded helicopters. Although the helicopter was flying over
some ragged terrain, however, they couldn‘t see anything on the
ground as it was a dark night. Since they came closer to
Kandahar, they started to take some sporadic anti air craft fire.
They were flying high enough for those fires to cause any harm,
nonetheless, they were a reminder of the sort of receptions that
they will get after landing.
It was a cloud of dust that greeted them on landing.
After walking about 200 yards, they saw, through their night
vision equipment, the outlines of some people who looked like
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ghosts waiting for him at the back of a pick-up truck. They
were members of the A-team 344 waiting for Dillon and his
men.
By then, the US Marines were already in place at a
desert base South-West of Kandahar. They could have invaded
Kandahar with relative ease and minimum loss, given the bulk
of the Taliban forces and their heavy weaponry was stationed in
the North combating the Northern Alliance. However, that
outcome was not politically acceptable, as it would have been
viewed by Afghan people as an outright invasion of the country
by the US. Anybody with a slight knowledge of Afghan history
would have discarded this option. The ex-Soviet Union have
paid a heavy price for ignoring the history. Given this, the US
strategy was to help Afghan people with logistical, surveillance,
air power, and command and control support, themselves deal
with Taliban, while having a minimum amount of US forces on
the ground.
The Western governments had lately realized that King
Zahir Shah was the only living source whose support could
bring legitimacy to a future post-Taliban government and
political solution in Afghanistan. So given the above, knowing
that Karzai enjoyed the support of King Zahir Shah, Dillon had
a pretty good idea of the importance of Hamid Karzai as a
political figure but had no idea whatsoever what role he would
be assuming in the future government once the Taliban regime
was removed from power. However, with the unfolding of the
political discussions in Bonn, on the formation of a new
interim Afghan Government, it was becoming clear that Hamid
Karzai would be playing a major role in future Afghanistan.
This is why Major Dillon, who had by now over a month of
experience fighting against the Taliban around the city of
Mazar-i-Sharif, and in the east of the country in Nangarhar
THE AVALANCHE ▪ 133
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Province, was assigned to link up with him, assume the role of
his military advisor, help in the planning and execution of his
military operations, and most importantly, see to that that he is
well protected. He was also tasked to organise for equipping his
men with the necessary arms, ammunitions, logistical support
and training, establish effective coordination with other
operations in the area, and arrange for air support during the
military operations.
At the time of Dillon‘s arrival towards the end of
November 2001, Karzai had only about 150 fighters with him.
However, he was pretty sure, once they got moving towards
Kandahar and people realise that he was at the helm, hundreds
and thousands of tribal men will join him along the path.
Karzai was saying that people are sick and tired of the Taliban
fearful rule and their Arab and Pakistani fighters whose Saudi
Wahabi brand of Islam was not familiar to more moderate and
tolerant brand of Islam practiced for centuries by the local
people.
When Dillon arrived, Captain Anthony Hagan, and his
12 member A-team 344 were already on the ground for some
weeks and working with Karzai and his men preparing his
contingent for future operations. Dillon knew that A-team 344
was heavily involved with the task of training and equipping
Karzai fighters. Captain Anthony Hagan, the commander of
the A-team, was a very competent and highly trained and
experienced officer. He was preparing Karzai‘s men to
successfully fight Taliban and already achieved crucial success
in helping the fall of Tarin Kowt the Oruzgan provincial capital
and the subsequent defeat of the Taliban task force which was
sent to retake the town.
This had significant impact, in uplifting Karzai‘s stature
with Pashtoon tribes of the region. The fact that they had
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captured Tarin Kowt not with military operations but by
inspiring a people‘s uprising against the Taliban local rulers,
gives more importance to his ability to mobilise people to
achieve his goals. Obviously, this had been noticed by
participants of the Bonn Conference.
To further support A-team 344, Major Dillon had
weapons, intelligence, communications, medical, and
engineering and air support coordinator sergeants. He also had
access to a formidable array of resources in the region which he
could call upon as the needs dictated. With the arrival of Major
Dillon and his command and control staff, Captain Hagan was
relieved from logistical, liaison and advisory duties and was now
solely focussed on military matters. They were now better
equipped to advance on Kandahar in close coordination with
other operations in the region.
After his arrival, Major Dillon had detailed discussions
with Mr. Karzai and Captain Anthony Hagan about the status
of operations and future plans.
On November 30th we started moving towards
Kandahar. As per Dillon‘s figures, Karzai had with him about
150 Afghan guerrilla fighters, and there were the US A-team
344, and Dillon‘s command and control personnel as well.
Dillon sent Captain Hagan and his half of his A-team together
with about 30 Afghan fighters headed by Jawaid as an advance
element about an hour ahead of the main body. The plan was
to move to the village of Shawali Kowt, which was at about
two hours driving distance from Kandahar, in order to set up
headquarters and facilitate the surrender of Kandahar from
there, either by negotiations or by force.
As we were getting ready to move South, Karzai‘s
satellite phone rang. The call was from the Bonn Conference.
He was informed that he has been nominated to lead the future
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government of Afghanistan. Then he was asked to give his
speech to members of the conference. Karzai‘s, on the spot
unprepared speech, took about 4 to six minutes where he
described his vision, his ideas and his plans for the country if he
was confirmed by the Conference to lead the interim
government being negotiated.
I noticed that Karzai had no deputy or second man in
command to him. Maybe this was intentional as he did not
want to cause a rift among his fellow tribal leaders who were
supporting him. They could feel like second class supporters by
his selecting someone as his deputy. He had a lot of hats to
wear. He was his team‘s logistical officer, communication
officer, campaign manager, publicity officer, transport officer
and so on. He would sleep only about 3 to 4 hours a night.
From lengthy discussions with Karzai, Dillon learned a
lot more about the history of the area. Dillon learned that
Kandahar had significant sentimental value to the Taliban, and
in fact, for all Pashtoons because it is the birthplace of modern
day Afghanistan. In 1709, some 300 years ago, Mirwais Khan
Hotak, the leader of the Ghilzai Pashtoon tribe in Kandahar
area, ended the decaying rule of the Persian Safavid Empire
over areas around Kandahar. After his death, his 18 year old
son, Mahmood Hotak, assumed leadership of the Pashtoon
tribes. In 1722, he captured Esfehan, the Capital of the Safavid
Persian Empire, and received the Persian throne from the
deposed emperor himself. The Pashtoon rule over Persia was
ended in 1730 by a Turkman with the name of Nadir Quli Beg,
who then established his dynasty in Persia and became known
as Nadir Shah Afshar. However, Pashtoons re-established their
sovereignty over areas around Kandahar in 1747 under the
leadership of Ahmad Khan Abdali, the leader of the Abdali
Tribe, another major Pashtoon Tribe of the Kandahar area. In
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October 1747, Ahmad Khan Abdali was proclaimed Shah
(King) by an assembly of Pashtoon chiefs and was assumed the
name Durrani, meaning pearl of pearls. He subsequently went
on to unify the whole of Afghanistan by capturing territories
extended from Mashhad, in present day Iran, in the west, to the
Indus River in present day Pakistan in the east and up to the
Amu Darya, the current border between Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Thus, unifying all nationalities of the
present day Afghanistan that include the Southern and Eastern
Afghanistan Pashtoon tribes with Turkmens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, in
the North and West, Hazaras in the centre, and many other
smaller Pashtoon tribes and clans such as Waziris, Mehsuds,
Shinwaris, Khogyanis, Yousofzais, Mohmands, Afridis in
Eastern and Southern Afghanistan.
The move to Kandahar was proceeding smoothly.
Along the way villagers would come up to show their allegiance
to Karzai. They would drive up to his vehicle, wave their hands
and drive back. It had the sort of a carnival atmosphere to it.
They drove all night. Along the way to Shawali Kowt, Captain
Hagan‘s advance team did not encounter resistance of any
substance by the Taliban fighters. As soon as they showed,
Taliban fighters would drive away towards Kandahar. Karzai‘s
sources along the way would inform him of any problems
coming up. They were coming from high ground and were in
the commanding positions of seeing the roads all the way
down. In addition, the move south was protected by air cover
from the US Air Force and the US Navy aircraft that was
making sure the way was cleared of Taliban fighters.
Before moving down to Kandahar, Karzai and Dillon
had directed bombing of the Taliban positions along the way.
Karzai and Dillon also coordinated their move South with the
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move North from Pakistan on the 28 of November of former
Kandahar Governor Gull Agha Shirzai.
On December 3 we arrived at the outskirts of Shawali
Kowt. As soon as Afghan fighters poured down from the
surrounding small ridges towards the village, they encountered
heavy fire by the Taliban defenders. It looked as the Taliban
will make a stand there, as it was their no cross over line. The
fighters retreated to the ridges where Captain Hagan and his
men set up their mortar tubes and started to hit back at the
Taliban. An intense exchange of fire followed. However, Karzai
fighters and the A-team managed to secure the village the next
day. Taliban fighters ran across the bridge and took positions
on the South side of the almost dry river. It appeared that a
small element of Taliban fighters was making a stand on the
South side of the river.
Karzai and his men set up their new headquarters in
Shawali Kowt. A hill top over 12 meters high with 100 meters
across and about 30 meters wide was the main feature of this
village. On top of the hill, it appeared that a building structure
once existed though it was pretty much damaged and almost
demolished by the bombings. Karzai occupied the only building
remaining undamaged at the foot of the hill. This appeared to
be an old school where anything of any value had been ripped
out of it. Its roof had holes in it and it was pretty rundown
building. However, Karzai needed a place to hold his meetings
with tribal leaders and to continue his negotiations for the
surrender of Kandahar. During the entire move south, Karzai
was constantly engaged, in numerous telephone conversations
to orchestrate the surrender of Kandahar. Members of the
Taliban government were talking to him to negotiate surrender
conditions with him. However, to Karzai‘s credit he was
insistent on unconditional surrender. He said that the Taliban
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must turn in their weapons, their vehicles and then he would sit
down and talk with them about how to handle the prisoners.
The US A-team set up their command and control
headquarters in one of the buildings close to the hill and a few
dugout positions on top of the hill overlooking the river. That
night, the night of December 4 and the morning of December
5 Major Dillon received another eight staff, the remainder of
his command and control elements, including Charles Brown,
the man with Harley Davison cap, who took over from Dillon
on his departure from Mazar-i-Sharif. They were also
accompanied by a couple of linguists, to help with the
interpretations and facilitate communications between the
Americans and the Afghan fighters. They also received
quantities of food, arms and other logistical supplies as by then
Karzai‘s force had grown quite considerably to over 1500 men,
because more and more villagers were joining in and through
some ex Taliban supporters changing sides. They needed
further logistical and coordination support.
Since Karzai‘s forces set up their headquarters on the
right side of the river in Shawali Kowt, they were taking
sporadic fire from across the river where some Taliban fighters
were making their presence known. The banks of the river were
steep enough so no vehicle could drive across the river and the
banks were exposed to the positions of Karzai‘s forces
particularly from their hill top command post.
There appeared to be a cave on a hill side about two
and half kilometres to the South-West of the hill top where
Major Dillon and his Special Forces sat up their command post.
It appeared that the Taliban were using the cave as shelter and
were hiding their ammunition and vehicles. Major Dillon
ordered the bombing of the cave entrance, and his men on the
hill top fixed their laser beams on the cave entrance to direct
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the laser-guided bombs, however, it appeared that the two
bombs, which were dropped from an F-18 fighter, did not
incur much damage to the cave. It was about 9:00 am 5th
December. Major Dillon thought he should use a larger bomb
to destroy the cave entrance. He called his Air Force combat
controllers and asked what was up overhead at the time. A
moment later they reported that a B-52 heavy bomber was in
the vicinity. He asked the controllers to check if they could
guide larger ammunitions onto the cave entrance. Then the
controllers start talking to the B-52 crew to use a 2000 pound
satellite guided bomb in order to take out the cave two and half
kilometres to the south-west. They were providing the pilot
with the cave coordinates so the bomb could guide itself onto
the target.
Meanwhile, at the hill top Major Dillon and two of his
men were pacing behind a wall of the demolished structure
which was about their chest high. Outside the wall, there were
two dugout positions overlooking the river which were manned
by about six members of the US A-team and Afghan fighters.
They were engaged in some sporadic exchange of fire with
Taliban fighters who positioned themselves across the river.
Major Dillon was trying to survey the Taliban positions and
particularly he was concerned about the cave. At about 9:30
am, Major Dillon thought the B-52 should be ready to drop the
heavy bomb by then and bent down to reach his binoculars
from his rucksack in order to have a closer look at the impact it
would have on the cave. As he bent down, and was on his one
knee, a heavy force pushed him onto the ground. He was
knocked to the ground. He collected himself, stood up and
looked around then he saw the devastation around him. He
realised that they had been hit by a large projectile. He thought
probably by the enemy artillery fire. All around him was a scene
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of utter devastation. He and his two men on the inside of the
wall were fine, one of them with some minor injuries.
However, as he glanced at the two dugout positions
outside the wall, he saw the destruction the blast had caused.
Two of his American soldiers were dead, Sergeant Jeff Smith
and Staff Sergeant David Price. A third, Staff Sergeant Maxim
Dean, was severely injured. A number of other US soldiers
were injured. The causalities on Afghan fighters, Karzai‘s men,
were very extensive, 27 dead and up to 50 injured. Karzai
himself was injured, though a minor cut on his face. Those
Americans who were not injured were frantically engaged in
treating the wounded, US and Afghans alike. They immediately
began attending to the injured, and requested medical
evacuation of those with severe injuries. Later he heard his
third American soldier, Staff Sergeant Tom Smith, died on the
way to Germany. Some of the Afghan fighters with severe
injuries were also air lifted and were on their way to Germany
with the Americans.
Two to three hours after the incident we realised it was
the 2000 pound satellite guided bomb meant for the Taliban
cave which hit them. The bomb fell 2.5 kilometres short of the
target. Someone somewhere had made a terrible mistake. Or
maybe the bomb‘s satellite guided system did not function
properly. Somehow, they were the target of a terrible friendly
fire.
Major Dillon and Captain Hagan ensured they had
adequate security around them to repeal any possible Taliban
advance. The US army headquarters were notified about what
had happened. Lucky for them, the Taliban across the river did
not realise what had happened to Karzai‘s men. They failed to
take advantage of the situation. Major Dillon was thinking that
a divine hand had probably saved him. He was only 6 meters
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away from the point of impact. Apparently, the short wall
between him and the ground zero had saved him. Somehow he
had decided to pickup his binoculars from his rucksack, at that
very moment.
Major Dillon moved Karzai to higher ground away
from the impact zone where he set up his headquarter as he
was engaged in intense negotiations with the Taliban about the
looming Kandahar surrender. Meanwhile Major Dillon
requested more men to replace the dead and the injured. His
men were busy treating and evacuating the injured. While all
this was going on, the Taliban decided to surrender and that
afternoon sent a delegation from Kandahar to talk to Karzai
and to agree on the terms. Major Dillon asked his security
elements to allow only one vehicle to cross the river with only
four men. The Taliban delegation had no clue what had just
happened to Karzai‘s force. They sat with Karzai and were
engaged in intense negotiations. The next day, 6th December
they returned back and had further talks with Karzai. It was
there that the agreement was reached to surrender Kandahar
the next day.
The next day, December 7, we moved into Kandahar
where Karzai occupied Mullah Omar‘s residence. By the time
we got there, the largely invisible Taliban leader, Mullah Omar,
was gone, along with bulk of his leadership, without any trace.
Witnesses told us that Mullah Omar left the city, piggy backing
on the back of a motorbike.
When the news got out that Karzai was in Kandahar,
thousands of people converged on Mullah Omar‘s compound
where Karzai was staying. People wanted to meet with him, to
greet him, or just to show support. Karzai‘s men provided
security for the American Special Forces team. They would not
let anybody come close to them.
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Once again the Taliban leadership demonstrated their
correct reading of the strategic realities of the day. Instead of
headless fanatic fighting a losing battle, they just vanished,
melted away in the population, still armed with their light
weapons and ammunition. I have no doubt that they will be
watching the situation in the hope of returning one day. That
would depend on how the future Afghan government and its
international allies deal with the issues in Afghanistan and the
region.
***
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Qalai-Djangi
With the collapse of Taliban rule in major population
centres now complete, Dillon was assigned to go after the Al
Qaeda fighters and leadership in eastern Afghanistan, believed
to be around 1,600 strong fanatics and highly committed
mostly Arab and Chechen foreign fighters. He thought there
would be a lot of prisoners, and it would be important for him
to avoid any unpleasant incident which may possibly defame
their operation. It was time to reflect on a few incidents that
seemingly marred the so far very successful campaign and
understand, firsthand, the actual events as they happened. We
had heard a lot of unpleasant news about the events which took
place in Mazar-i-Sharif after the departures of Dillon and me.
Dillon was keen to learn from Charles Brown. The media were
reporting mistreatment of the prisoners, with news of possible
massacres and war crimes. So Dillon arranged a debriefing
session with Charles; Paul Smith, a British Red Cross worker;
and Bob Moore, from the CIA, who joined us at Shahwalikowt.
―Tell us about the developments after we left in as
much detail as you could, please, Charles,‖ Dillon said.
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―After the fall of the city, General Dostum, Ustad Atta,
and Mr. Mohaqiq were trying to consolidate their grip on the
province,‖ Charles said. ―Repairing the two airport runways
were priority. The crossing bridge on the border with
Uzbekistan at Hairatan, some 60 kilometres north of Mazar-i-
Sharif was opened. This allowed us to bring in much-needed
supplies and ammunition. At this time a detachment of the US
Marines, the 10th Mountain Division, had crossed the bridge
from Uzbekistan and deployed near the civilian airport.‖
―What happened at Qalai-Djangi?‖ Dillon asked.
Charles replied, ―over the next week and a half, after
yours departure, Rozi and his unit were deployed at Qalai-
Djangi guarding the prisoners and storing weapons and
ammunitions.‖
―Tell me about Qalai-Djangi, Daoud? How much do
you know about the place?‖ asked me Dillon.
―Qalai-Djangi means the War Castle. In the old days
city garrisons used to station at them. The one in Mazar-i-Sharif
is an old 19th century very large castle, in the shape of a
pentagon, where Dostum‘s cavalry uses it mainly as their
headquarters.‖
―Yes in fact its old stables were full of their horses and
ponies,‖ added Charles. He went on to say, ―At about 11 am on
Saturday November 24, I had just finished inspection of my
unit when my walkie-talkie phone started ringing. It was a very
pleasant clear autumn day in Mazar-i-Sharif. The sky was blue
the weather was perfect and most importantly, there was no
sound of War, no B-52 heavy bombers overhead, no clicking
sound of machine gun fire or explosives going off from a
distance. On the other side of the line was commander Rozi
who told me that his boss, general Dostum, had informed him
of a convoy of Taliban vehicles which apparently had arrived
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and camped at a desert at the eastern outskirts of the city from
Kunduz. Dostum had asked Rozi to hand over the security of
Qalai-Djangi to the cavalry units and head east to meet the
arriving Taliban. Dostum had told him that according to his
news the Taliban do not seem to have hostile intentions but
rather looked like a group who had escaped the ongoing war in
Kunduz. He told Rozi that if they were surrendering, he had
better take them to Qalai-Djangi. Rozi wanted me to
accompany him to meet the renegade Taliban Force.‖
I asked Charles ―Did Dostum mentioned any
numbers?‖
―Apparently not,‖ answered Charles and added,
―It took about an hour for us to arrive at a point of the
highway which extends to Kunduz in the east and Kabul in the
south east where a large convoy of vehicles of many kinds were
parked and a large number of Taliban troops were gathered.‖
―Were they forming any kind of defensive formation?‖
inquired Dillon.
―Not really. There was a roadside teahouse ‗Samawari‘
nearby. Some Taliban were sitting on the ground and some in a
sort of position that one hardly call defensive, however, a large
white flag was raised on top of the first truck,‖ responded
Charles.
―Did you and Rozi take adequate forces with you?‖
asked Dillon.
―Sure we did. Moments later, further alliance and
Special Forces men arrived on the scene,‖ responded Charles.
―What did they want?‖ inquired Dillon.
―It seemed that the war for the Afghan Taliban was
over and they simply wanted to go home. The foreign fighters
were more vocal and became agitated when they saw that Rozi
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was accompanied by some Americans, they wanted to
surrender to General Dostum himself‖ answered Charles.
―What was the mix Charles?‖
―They were over 500 men of mixed origins. While there
were about 200 Afghan Taliban, the foreign Taliban, mostly
Pakistanis, Chechens and Arabs out-numbered them. Among
the Afghan Taliban, few were Kandahari Pashtoons but were
mostly villagers from north-western provinces of Fariab and
Badghis. It turned out that these fighters had escaped the carpet
bombings of US planes and the alliance attacks on Kunduz, the
north-eastern regional centre.‖
―What did you do?‖
―Rozi talked to Dostum on the phone and he agreed to
meet with them. About half an hour later Dostum arrived in a
jeep surrounded by his bodyguards. That was the first time I
met the man. He was dressed in a desert camouflage uniform,
with black shining military boots and wearing a cap more in the
style of General De Gaulle.‖
―Yes, he dresses like that and I found him a very
experienced General indeed‖ commented Dillon and asked:
―What was his reaction?‖
―Rozi introduced me to Dostum, and briefed him on
the situation. Before his arrival we asked the Taliban to form a
delegation to talk on their behalf. Dostum then met with the
Taliban delegation inside the teahouse. We were there too.
Afghan Taliban informed Dostum that they had been forcibly
recruited to Taliban forces when Taliban over ran their
provinces – that they did not have any affiliation with Taliban‘s
ideology or policies. They wanted to go home to their farms
and villages‖ explained Charles.
―The foreign fighters told Dostum that they were sent
by the Madrasas headmasters in Pakistan where they were
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Noor A Khalidi
studying Islam and that they were told it was a holy jihad and it
was their religious duty to take part in it. They confessed that
they were wrongly thinking that the opposition were
Communists and now that they have realised the situation they
wanted to surrender to General Dostum himself so that could
give them a safe passage to Pakistan.‖
―What was Dostum‘s reaction to all this?‖
―After listening to them, Dostum asked the delegation
to stay in the teahouse while he considered their request. He
went outside and straight into his jeep and asked us to follow
him. At that point I introduced to him agent John Hamilton
from the CIA‘s Al-Qaeda hunting squad who had recently
arrived to interview the foreign Taliban prisoners. He asked me
to sit next to him on the passenger seat and John and Rozi on
the back seat. Dostum asked for our opinion. He added that he
wouldn‘t mind giving the foreign Taliban a safe passage to
Pakistan.‖
―What was your response?‖ inquired Dillon.
Charles replied ―I said to Dostum that it was out of the
question. We needed to question those foreign fighters. They
were our enemies. We needed to establish their links to the Al-
Qaeda network. We could not just let them go. I mentioned to
Dostum that agent Hamilton has come all the way from
Virginia to talk to these guys.‖
―What was Dostum‘s reaction?‖ asked Dillon.
―Dostum commented that he was not happy about
what had happened at the girls‘ high school. He said people
were surrendering and instead they got killed, a lot of them. He
said if he tells them that they cannot be freed, then they would
then start to fight to the death. He said that was something that
he did not want to happen.‖
―What was agent Hamilton‘s response?‖ asked Dillon:
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―Hamilton mentioned to Dostum that the defence
Secretary Ramsfield had left two options for the foreign
fighters: confinement to a prison or death, there was no third
option there. He emphasised that we had to question those
guys and, if they chose to fight, so death was what they would
get.‖ ―Was Dostum prepared to comply?‖ asked Dillon.
―Dostum went silent for a moment and then he got out
of the jeep and walked back towards the teahouse. Inside the
teahouse, the Taliban delegation was anxious to hear his
decision. When he walked in, they stood in silence looking at
him in anticipation. Dostum looked at the Afghan Taliban
soldiers‘ delegates and told them to tell their colleagues that
they were free either to go to their villages unarmed, or to join
his army. The delegates ran to kiss his hands, and to his credit,
Dostum withdrew his hands.‖ ―What was his answer to the
foreign fighters?‖ asked Dillon.
―He told them that he had no problem providing them
with safe passage to Pakistan. However, he added that because
Kabul, Herat and Kandahar were at the time still in Taliban‘s
hands he could not send them by road to Pakistan. He
promised them that he would organise airlifting them to
Pakistan once the local airports are operational.‖ ―That was a
clever way of putting it‖ commented Dillon.
―Yes, it was, and Dostum added that he would keep
them somewhere safe in Mazar-i-Sharif, and will provide the
International Red Cross immediate access to them, to ensure
their safety and comfort. But in return they had to cooperate
with his men, and his American and British advisors, and obey
directions given to them,‖ Charles replied. He added, ―The
foreign Taliban delegates agreed to his plan.‖ Charles
continued, ―With that, Dostum left and Rozi soldiers started to
load foreign Taliban onto trucks, groups of 50 persons on a
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truck. They just asked them to leave their weapons on the
ground and jump on the trucks. The final count was 296
foreign fighters. Rozi‘s armoured unit provided escort for the
convoy which made its way to Qalai-Djangi through the streets
of Mazar-i-Sharif. It was late in the afternoon when the convoy
of prisoners arrived at Qalai-Djangi.‖
According to Charles he and agent Hamilton returned
to the Special Forces Headquarters. However, he later found
out from Paul Smith the Red Cross worker about the arrival of
the prisoners at Qalai-Djangi.
Paul said that, ―from the second-storey windows of the
officer‘s quarters, two staff members of the International Red
Cross Committee, he and Stephan Steinberger a Swede,
observed the arrival of the new prisoners. Three days before
that we were given access by Dostum to those prisoners who
survived the ill fated Girls high school mayhem. Accompanied
by Nadir Ahmad, the prison governor, we watched as the
prisoners were ordered to overturn their pockets and leave on
the ground all items in their possessions.‖
Charles remarked, ―Before boarding trucks at the desert
surrender point, the Alliance guards did not conduct such a
procedure. Now within the security of the fortress walls, I
believe, they wanted to make sure the prisoners do not carry
any object of an offensive nature.‖
Paul said, ―I was keen to watch the prisoner reception
ceremony. I was particularly interested to see how the Alliance
guards observe the prisoners of war code of conduct and to see
if the assurances given to them by General Dostum to treat the
prisoners humanely will hold true or not. As I was watching
down the courtyard bellow, I noticed that Nadir Ali, a
Northern Alliance intelligence officer, was asking a prisoner to
turn out his pockets, but, the prisoner suddenly produced a
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grenade, pulled the pin, killing himself and Nadir Ali. It was a
terrible incident, bodies scattered around. It was carnage, to say
the least. I happened to interview Nadir Ali the day before and
had explained to me what type of behaviour was expected of
him and his fellow guards in dealing with war prisoners. I
watched in horror as moments later another prisoner did a
copycat of the previous incident and killed himself and another
alliance guard, Sayeed Assad.‖ I commented that ―I knew them,
both Nadir Ali and Sayeed Assad belonged to Hazara minority
ethnic group from Central Afghanistan and were members of
Commander Mohaqiq militia army who in alliance with
Dostum and Ustad Atta Mohammad liberated Mazar-i-Sharif
from the Taliban.‖
Paul continued ―The two grenade attacks caused a lot
of anxiety among the alliance guards and they immediately
herded the prisoners into the basements of the buildings on the
south side of the compound, which was close to the
ammunition depots and Dostum‘s cavalry stables. I thought it
was a really dangerous situation. The two grenade attacks,
caused the kind of chaos that resulted in most of the prisoners,
hundreds, being housed in the basements with probably many
more grenades and weapons in their possessions. My sentiment
was echoed by Nadir Ahmad, the prison governor, who was
clearly very upset by what had just happened to his staff and
the undesirable outcome holding the prisoners with all their
belongings in the basements.‖
Paul stopped for a few seconds and then said, ―The
prison governor then called Rozi, who was organising his
armoured unit just outside the main gate to the fortress, on his
walkie talkie and briefed him as what had just happened inside
the castle. Rozi promised to move some of his tanks inside the
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prison walls and would position them in strategic locations
inside the compound just in case they were needed. He was
worried about the ammunition and weapons depots so close to
the prisoner‘s quarters.‖
Dillon turned to Charles and asked if John Hamilton,
the CIA agent was in the castle at the time.
Charles said, ―No, he was with me. Hamilton and I
returned to my headquarters, a high school on the southern
flanks of the city about 15 kilometres from the Qalai-Djangi
fort. I was satisfied with the surrender at the desert. I
mentioned to John that he got a lot of people to work on! John
was particularly looking forward to interview those Arabs
among them. John said those guys are Al-Qaeda recruits for
sure.‖
―How much do you know about John Hamilton?‖
asked Dillon.
―John Hamilton was a 32 year old CIA agent from
Alabama. By then, he had been on the trail of Al-Qaeda leaders
in Afghanistan for sometime. He was operating with the
Northern Alliance commanders at their north-eastern enclave
and had organised a couple of undercover squads to find and
eliminate the high profile subjects or act as spotters for the
unmanned CIA drones in the air to do the job.‖
―Was he up to the task?‖ wondered Dillon.
―I guess so,‖ answered Charles. ―Apparently Hamilton
had gone through everything on Al-Qaeda files at the agency.
His Arabic was adequate which was considered a big plus in
dealing with people from the Middle East.‖
―How did he plan to manage it, there would have been
a lot of interviews I assume? Did he have anybody else to help
him?‖ asked Dillon.
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―I actually enquired the same of Hamilton,‖ replied
Charles. ―His answer was that he would take Bob with him
early in the morning and he was planning to question the
prisoners in groups.‖
―I actually mentioned to John to be careful with those
guys, particularly questioning them in groups, some of them
were real fanatics,‖ commented Charles.
―He replied that he would make sure they were
restrained,‖ added Charles.
―I told him that when gets there he should ask
commander Rozi to provide extra cover with his men, while he
and Bob were doing the interviews,‖ Charles said.
Dillon then turned to Bob to hear the rest of the story.
Bob Moore was an athletic 28 year old man from New Jersey,
with the build and looks of Timothy Dolton, the ex James
Bond star.
Bob said, ―I was John Hamilton‘s junior colleague. It
was about 9 am on Sunday, when John and I met with
Commander Rozi just outside the gatehouse to the fort. Rozi
had just completed inspection of his unit when we approached
him. Spending weeks with the alliance forces, apparently John
was comfortable in engaging in conversation with alliance
officers. In spite of his Arabic knowledge, his Dari was poor
and just managed to learn a few words in the local language so
he greeted Rozi in English. Rozi asked him what he could do
for him. John told him, he wanted to question the prisoners
and he needed guards to provide security. Rozi, using his walkie
talkie, talked to another commander inside the fort, Gull
Mohammad a Hazara commander, to provide security for us
while we interrogate the prisoners and asked us to go to the
south-western side of the fort onto the parading courtyard
adjacent to the prisoners‘ quarters.‖ Bob continued, ―Rozi then
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asked one of his soldiers to take us where we needed to go. At
the same time, a van pulled out and a two member German
Television crew from the ARD Network disembarked. They
wanted to interview the prison governor and members of the
International Red Cross Committee who were already at the
second floor of the fort Headquarters with the prison
governor.‖
―Yes the TV crew did join us up there at the governor‘s
office that morning,‖ commented Paul.
―The alliance soldier guided John and me to the
southern quarters. In the courtyard John placed a chair and sat
on it,‖ Bob said.
Dillon interrupted Bob by asking, ―How was he
dressed, was he carrying any weapons?‖
―He was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a baseball cap
and wearing wrapped around mirrored sunglasses. He was
wearing no armour on his chest and his M-9 pistol was hanging
from his belt‖ Bob answered and then added, ―I stood to his
right. I was dressed in a black Shalwar and Kamis, dark brown
sleeveless jumper and a black Pakul, the traditional Afghan
Mujahidin outfit. I had my M-9 pistol hanging to my right side
as well.‖
―What was the security arrangement?‖ asked Dillon.
―As per Rozi‘s instructions, there were about 10 alliance
soldiers providing security for us. The alliance soldiers some in
desert camouflage uniforms, some in traditional Uzbek clothing
and wearing turbans, were armed with AK-47 Kalashnikovs.‖
―John asked a group of about six soldiers to stand in a straight
line on his left hand side. About 20 meters behind them was
the fort high wall.‖
―Why did he ask them to stand in a straight line?‖ asked
Dillon.
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―I have no idea‖ answered Bob. ―Just to intimidate the
prisoners I assume!‖
―Bob I really want to know exactly what had happened
over there as I will most certainly face the same dilemma in the
east as you two faced in Mazar-i-Sharif. So please go on and tell
us every detail. This is not a court of law as you know, this is
just a necessary operational briefing‖ Dillon said. Bob paused
for a moment thought about something and then continued
―As per John‘s strict instructions, a group of about 20
prisoners were then led from the basements to the courtyard
with hands tied up with ropes behind them on the elbows. The
prisoners were made to sit half circle on the dry grass of the
parading courtyard about two meters away from John. The
interrogation started and John was asking questions, in the
nature of who they were and how they ended up fighting with
the Taliban and who brought them from their own countries
and what did they know of the Al-Qaeda and what were their
role in the organisations etc. John was very firm in his
questioning, and from time to time he would shout ‗you better
answer me, you piece of a shit, if you want to make your
fu…king short life a little longer here. If you do not cooperate
you will die here you know that!‘‖ Bob paused again. We were
all quietly listening to him. I was very anxious to learn how
exactly the rioting began.
―The prisoners were not answering John‘s questions. In
a frustrating moment he glanced towards the guards standing in
a line and shouted get ready! He just wanted to intimidate the
prisoners in order to get some straight answers. It did work
though, unfortunately in an adverse way.‖ ―There was this
commotion among the prisoners, someone was very frightened
and was repeating the words ‗they are going to execute us here,
the Americans are going to kill us‘‖ Bob said.
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―It was around 11 am and at this point John asked an
Arab prisoner as why was he there?‘ ‗To kill you, Allah-o-
Akbar‘ shouted the man and with all his strength jumped on
John. John fell on his back and the prisoner tried to bite at his
throat. John lying on his back on the ground drew his pistol
and shot the man in the head and tried to push him of his face.
The next moment there were more and more bodies piled on
him and everyone wanted a piece of him. In a few seconds, he
was completely out of sight. The speed of the event surprised
everyone, including me and I started shooting at the prisoners
to free John. I killed three and some of the guards also started
shooting at the prisoners, about five of whom fell on the
ground with gun shots to their heads and bodies while their
elbows were still tied at heir backs. Some alliance guards who
ran to rescue John from under the prisoners were overwhelmed
by the sheer number and determination of the prisoners who
overpowered them. Some prisoners freed their hands, grabbed
guards‘ weapons and started shooting at them. At this point I
ran towards a downed guard, grabbed his AK-47 and started to
shoot at the prisoners. Realising I could not possibly succeed I
suddenly took a run towards the buildings along the northern
wall and managed to get inside the fort‘s headquarters
building.‖
Paul said ―I saw Paul‘s dash towards the building and
was relieved seeing him made it. By then the freed prisoners
had taken control of the courtyard and killed the remaining
guards. Some ran towards the basement and freed the
remaining fellow prisoners and all rushed to help themselves
with weapons and ammunition from the nearby armoury. The
courtyard was littered with bodies of the guards and prisoners.
John‘s body was not in sight, he was buried among the dead
prisoners.‖
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Paul continued ―The prisoners, hundreds of them now
armed with AK-47s, grenade launchers, and even mortars,
started shooting at the guards over the buildings parapets, wall
tops and the castle watch towers. Some of the guards, realising
they were outnumbered, started to slide down the outer wall
slopes. I was happy to see commander Rozi made it to the
rooftop of a building. He sat up his command post there and
was directing fire by scores of his guards looking down on the
southern courtyard.‖ It was an absolute chose and carnage.‖
Charles said ―As Rozi could not get me on the phone,
he asked Farid, one of his junior officers, to jump on a vehicle
and go to the high school where our Special forces Unit was
staying and to inform us of what was happening at the Castle.‖
Paul said ―I saw Farid holding one end of a soldiers‘
turban and slid down the wall, ran to a parked jeep and left in a
hurry.‖
Bob said ―fearing for their lives, the German Television
crew also ran inside the northern building where they found
me. We were trapped there for hours while the fighting enraged
inside the fortress.‖
Paul said ―while Rozi‘s two tanks inside the castle
started shooting towards the southern buildings, his soldiers
where shooting down from the wall tops and the castle corner
watchtowers. In return, the prisoners were hitting them with all
they had, mortars, RPG rocket launchers and Kalashnikov
automatic rifles.‖
Bob said ―Inside the building I asked the TV crew that
I needed to use their satellite phone. I could only find the US
Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and informed them of the
situation and requested help.‖
―Meanwhile sensing the danger, we the two Red Cross
workers and the prison governor climbed up the northern
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building parapet and slid down the walls to safety‖ Paul
explained.
Charles said ―it took half an hour for Farid to arrive at
the high school. He informed me in a broken English of what
had happened over at the Qalai-Djangi fortress. He said
‗Americans dead!‘‖
Charles continued: ―I took nine of my Special Forces
soldiers and six British SAS commandos with me. While the
British were dressed in jeans and Pakul hats, we were wearing
baseball caps and wrapped around mirrored sunglasses. I also
had Jim Allen with us, you know the stocky bearded Special
Forces man with a tattoo on his neck and arms. He was
carrying a satellite phone on his back. We jumped onto two
minivans and a white Land Rover with a machine gun mounted
at the back of it. We were carrying M-4 rifles and M-9 pistols.
The British were armed with M-16 automatic rifles. We flew
the 15 Kilometres long road to the fortress. It was about 2pm
when we arrived at the fortress.‖
―I met Commander Rozi at the gatehouse and we
explored the situation. Rozi told me which buildings had now
been taken over by the prisoners. Rozi wanted a particular
white building on the southern side to be hit. Rozi also told me
that Bob was holed up at the Governor‘s office in the northern
building.‖
Charles continued, ―I then learned that Bob was using
the German TV crew‘s satellite phone. So I asked Thomas to
find Bob on the phone. A while later I overheard Thomas
saying to Bob on the phone ‗Oh Shit …sit tight buddy, we are
coming to get you out of there.‘ Thomas looked at me and
when met my enquiring eyes said ‗John is dead and Bob has
killed three and now is being held up at the northern building
with no ammunition‘.‖
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―Then, I asked the air combat controllers to tell the Air
Force pilots to get there in a hurry before the prisoners manage
to get out of the fort. I asked the laser spotters of my team to
join Rozi on top of the Gatehouse and direct the pilots onto
the targets identified by Rozi. I also asked Thomas to tell Bob
that I was on my way to rescue him and tell him, meanwhile, if
he could escape through the roof and parapets while we will
provide cover for him with lots of fire, from the ground and
from the air,‖ Charles explained.
―I heard a Combat Air Controller was giving a pilot the
coordinates ‗north 44569, east 077432, elevation 1,199 ft‘ and
pointed to me ‗four minutes‘. Everybody took some cover then
I heard ‘30 seconds‘ and there was a flash of light and the
sound of a racing car deceleration and a loud bang. The missile
hit the target building some hundred metres away. Six more
strikes followed the first one,‖ said Charles.
He continued, ―By the time I got to the governor‘s
office, Bob and the German TV crew were gone, the same way
as Paul and others. Bombing raids started around 4pm and
continued to about 9pm when the night fall brought a
temporary lull in the fighting. However, most of the Special
Forces men and the British SAS stayed overnight in our posts
at the fort. Later that night I returned to the high school and
was delighted to find Bob Moore was safe and sound waiting
for us. We immediately commenced a planning meeting with
our British counterparts on the best way to handle the situation
the next day. My priority was to retrieve John‘s body from the
fort.‖
―I returned to the fort the next morning, accompanied
by three more Special Forces soldiers and eight men from the
Marines 10th Mountain Division. The air combat controllers
were directing air strikes. At around 10am a fighter plane was
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circling the fort. I hear the laser spotter called ‗the coordinates:
north 355695, east 06438867‘ the pilot replied ‗roger, four
minutes, but you are too close to target‘ the spotter replied ‗we
have to be able to accurately point out the target, but now we
are making a covering run‘, ‗we are ready to release now, two
minutes‘ and a more powerful missile hit the northern wall, just
10 meters from the alliance command post. A huge column of
dust and smoke rose to the sky and as the dust started to clear a
huge hole appeared on the wall of the northeast tower. One of
Rozi‘s tanks flipped over and there were bodies of a number of
alliance soldiers scattered around and many more were injured
including five Special Forces soldiers and three British SAS‖.
Charles described the friendly fire.
Bob said he heard Rozi was shouting at the Marine
soldiers, ―No no this is the wrong target‖ and asked them to
cut off the air strike.
Charles said that he, Bob Moore, and a few A-team
members returned to the fort at around 4:30 pm.
Charles said, ―I climbed to the top of the Gatehouse
building, the command post of Rozi, the alliance commander. I
told Rozi not to stay up the post that night and asked him to
remove his soldiers from the roof and wall tops as he was
planning to finish the foreign fighters uprising with a different
kind of weapon. At midnight a C-130 gunship started circling
the fortress and firing cannons and a host of ammunition of
various kinds on the prisoners‘ positions. The gunship released
a huge bomb on the ammunition depot which blew up with a
huge explosion and filled the sky with a kind of firework which
lasted for hours.‖
―Did anyone survive that kind of bombardment?‖
asked Dillon.
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―The next morning Rozi mentioned to me that it looks
like about 50 to 60 foreign fighters had survived. While some
prisoners were flagging surrender, many others were still
fighting. Our A-team members and the SAS and the Marines
contingent joined more than hundred alliance soldiers who
were sliding down the walls and closing in on the surviving
prisoners, most retreated to the basements by now.‖
I asked Charles, ―What the prisoners were eating for
food during those three days?‖
―They killed all the horses and ate them,‖ replied
Charles.
―Did you managed to retrieve the body of John?‖ asked
Dillon.
―My A-team members discovered John Hamilton‘s
body the next morning from under the bodies of some dead
prisoners. His body was booby-trapped with grenades. He had
gun shots and was badly beaten up,‖ replied Charles.
―On Wednesday, general Dostum himself visited the
fort. After conferring with his commanders and us, he tried to
persuade the prisoners to give up the fight and surrender. He
promised them that they will be treated properly and will be
provided with medical care. However, it was only the next
Saturday, seven days after the revolt that the alliance soldiers
had to flush out the remaining foreign Taliban fighters from
the basements by flooding the basements with water, when all
other means including throwing of grenades failed to get them
out.‖
―I was there with Rozi and some members of my A-
team in the fort when at last the filthy, hungry and exhausted
surviving prisoners emerged from the basements. Rozi was not
expecting more than a dozen but could not believe his eyes
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when the final count was 86 surviving foreign Taliban fighters.
They were given bananas and apples.‖ Charles said.
―At 11:00 am an alliance soldier came running towards
me and shouted, ‗there is an American man among the
prisoners.‘ Hearing this, Bob, who was standing next to me,
sprinted in a sudden with the alliance soldier to meet the
American Taliban. He was a 20 year old man, from Washington
D.C., who had converted to Islam, and was a student at one of
Pakistan‘s Islamic Madrassas. His name was John Walker
Lindh.‖
***
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5 THE ESCAPE
It was around 7 O‘ Clock the next morning, 8
December 2001 when Major Dillon was woken up from a
seemingly very deep sleep by one of his communications
officers. After a very eventful day Major Dillon had a decent
sleep on a comfortable bed in one of the rooms of Mullah
Omar‘s guest house in Kandahar. He was feeling refreshed.
Karzai‘s men and those of his ally commander Gull Agha, were
firmly in control of the city now. His men of the Special Forces
Alpha Team had done an excellent job supporting Karzai and
his men to unseat the Taliban and their leader, Mullah Omar,
from their stronghold of Kandahar without the involvement of
any major contingent of the US Army. It seemed that their
adapted strategy of letting the anti Taliban Afghan forces
themselves conduct the War with close logistical, command
and communications support by the US Special Forces units
worked to perfection, not only in the North but now in the
South of the country which was considered to be the Taliban‘s
heartland. This strategy ensured enduring minimum casualties
by the US forces as well as ensuring the support of the local
population to drive out Taliban.
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His Communications Officer handed Major Dillon an
urgent message from the Special Forces‘ field Headquarters at
the K2 air base in southern Uzbekistan. The message
congratulated him on the capturing of Kandahar and added
that he was required to report to the headquarters immediately
for a debriefing session and redeployment back to Tora Bora.
Apparently in about two hours time a C130 cargo plane was
scheduled to land at the Kandahar Airport, now occupied by
the US Marines, bringing in replacements for his Alpha team
and would also take him to K2, located about two hours flying
time to the North.
At about midday on his arrival at the airport,
accompanied by three of his Alpha team members, Dillon
noticed the signage on the terminal building saying, ―Welcome
to the Kandahar International Airport.‖ Dillon asked me if the
airport really handled international flights. I replied, ―not really,
it is basically used for domestic flights‖. I further added: ―The
airport was built during mid 1960‘s by the Americans with the
intention that it will serve as a refuelling base for international
flights between the South East Asia and Europe. However,
with the introduction of Jetliners, there was no further need for
stop over airports.‖
―It is a shame,‖ Dillon nodded and stepped out of the
jeep.‖
Walking towards the terminal building I said: ―Major, I
have good news for you.‖
―What is it my friend,‖ responded Dillon.
―According to the news coming today from Pakistani
Capital Islamabad, the ISI Director Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed
has been fired. Two other ISI high ranking officers, Lt. Gen.
Mohammed Aziz Khan and Lt. Gen. Muzaffar Usmani, are also
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sidelined. I understand that there were some concerns about
their closeness to the Taliban leadership.‖
―Oh yes. That is good news. Looks like the pressure has
finally paid off! Anyway, with the demise of the Taliban in
Afghanistan, I would like to see a revamp of the Pakistan‘s
Afghan Policy.‖ Major Dillon departed Kandahar headed to Camp K2
in Uzbekistan on his way eventually to Jalalabad.
The next day I arrived at Jalalabad from Kandahar.
This airport was very familiar to me as I spent six months at the
facility during my training as an Afghan Army Reserve officer
in 1975.
On Dillon‘s arrival to Jalalabad a day later, we
immediately boarded a helicopter and headed to Pachir wa
Agam where the Tora Bora battle was unfolding. At the
debriefing sessions at camp K2, Dillon‘s superiors expressed
their concern about the possibility of the Al Qaeda leadership
escaping from Tora Bora. He was asked to join Col. McNamara
on the ground and particularly aim for capturing the big targets
while leaving the conduct of the battles on the field to
McNamara.
In his absence from the area during the last 13 days,
Afghan fighters with the help of the US continued bombings
and the US Special Forces under Col. McNamara had captured
all the caves and trenches on the lower slopes and peaks of the
Tora Bora area of the Spin Ghar Mountains. They were now
gearing for final assault to finish off the enemy.
Dillon needed to get first hand reports of the enemy
movements and situation. He needed to interview the
prisoners. He was with Afghan commander Zaland Shaadman
when they heard on the Walkie Talkie the sound of an Afghan
who said that he was interpreting for the ―Arab Guests‖. He
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said "Our guest brothers want a safe passage to Pakistan and
they are willing to pay good money for anybody helping them"
Shaadman responded, "Our blood is the same, we are both
Moslem brothers, we do not want your money, but under the
circumstances you must surrender or leave the area at once."
Apparently Hashmat Aziz, another Afghan commander who
was also listening to this communication from the lower
grounds on the left flank, was not happy for Zaland Shaadman
to cut any deals with the Arabs. Aziz complained that no deals
should be cut. Dillon repeated the same to Shaadman, "No
deals,‖ he said.
On 13 December another ex-Taliban supporter,
Commander Afzal Gul, arrived at the battle field with his men
and declared that he is ready to fight the Arabs.
Dillon asked Afzal Gul what was his reading of the
situation.
"It looks like the Arabs have made a tactical withdrawal
farther south to much higher grounds. There are good roads
and safe passages over there, and Osama has plenty of friends
in the area who are not interested in killing fellow Arab Muslim
brothers," replied Afzal Gul.
On 16 December, Afghan fighters captured the last of
the Tora Bora caves. Commander Haji Zakhil, who was
fighting with 600 of his own troops alongside the two other
commanders, was clearly very unhappy about the outcome.
There were only 21 Al Qaeda fighters who were taken
prisoners by his men. He bitterly complained to Dillon about
the tactics used and said "No one told us to put siege to Tora
Bora. All enemy commanders and leaders had escaped but
except for the stupid, the foolish and the weak ones."
Dillon asked Zakhil to bring all his prisoners for
questioning to his camp. Then Dillon heard from Commander
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Hashmat Aziz that they have captured some Arabs at the
village of Upper Pachir, who were fleeing the area. He rushed
to meet them. When Dillon arrived at Upper Pachir village, he
saw that John Baker, the CIA agent, whom he met at camp K2
in mid November, was already there. Hashmat Aziz men had
captured Abu Jaffar, a Saudi financier and Al Qaeda operative,
whose foot was blown off by a cluster bomb, when he was
trying to flee the Tora Bora with his Egyptian wife. He
apparently was fleeing north, then east towards the famed
Khyber Pass where Hashmat Aziz men captured him. During
the interview Mr. Jaffar said, ―The Sheikh and his body guards
had left the cave complexes roughly 16 days earlier, heading for
the Parachinar over the snow capped passes, riding horses.
After he arrived at his destination, he phoned back, urging us to
keep fighting. He told us he was sending his own son, Salah
Uddin, to replace him.‖
John Baker, the CIA agent, asked Jaffar, ―When was
that he phoned back?‖
―Six days ago,‖ answered the Saudi.
―How did you get away from Tora Bora and who
helped you escape?‖ asked Baker.
―I paid over USD5000 to a local chief here who
provided us with horses and two bodyguards to take us to
Pakistan at Torkham border post,‖ answered Jaffar.
―Unfortunately, when we came across some Afghan
militia, our bodyguards deserted us,‖ complained Jaffar.
―Were there other Arabs with you fleeing the area?‖
asked Baker.
―Yes, there were many others who also paid USD5000
each for getting escorted to Pakistan, who were fortunate and
got away.‖
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Noor A Khalidi
―Do you know whom did you pay the money?‖ asked
Baker.
―Yes I paid the money to Malik Hamid Gul who lives
here in this village,‖ answered Jaffar.
Dillon asked Commander Hashmat Aziz to bring in
Malik Hamid Gul for questioning. When Malik Hamid Gul
arrived, Baker asked him if it was true that he had received
money to help Arabs flee the area. Malik answered that yes it
was true and added that his villagers are very poor and this was
a golden opportunity to make money as these Arabs were
prepared to pay good amounts of money that they have never
seen in their lives. He added that, since the siege of Tora Bora
begun, they had in fact helped more than 600 Arabs escape the
area.
Baker then asked Malik to desribe how the escape was
organised and if he kept all of the money to himself and his
men?
―The problem for the Arabs was the 6 Kilometres
distance from Tora Bora to our village where the bombing was
heavy. Once they had arrived in our village it was easy to take
them along the base of the White Mountains to Lalpur in tribal
areas of Pakistan which was located across the Kabul River, on
the other side of the Highway from Jalalabad to Torkham
border post by mules, horses or even cars. But no one was
guarding the highway. I had to pay most of money to
Commander Alikhel to let them leave the area and to the local
guides to escort them to the other side of the border.‖
Commander Hashmat Aziz men also captured
Mohammed Aman, who had occasionally cooked for bin
Laden. Answering Baker he said, ―I was fixing dinner in a cave
at the end of November, when a huge bomb exploded at the
base and blow me into the air. Two of my colleagues were
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killed. It was then that I, along with another Saudi and a
Kurdish fighter, decided to flee.‖
He said that, ―We fled in the night of the same day as
bin Laden escaped. We received a lot of Iranian currency from
our Arab Commanders." He further said, "Since our Chechens
were killing people who tried to leave, so we left at night and
travelled South-West, towards Paktia province, but were
caught."
The next day Dillon and Baker interviewed a group of
Yemeni fighters who had been captured by Commander
Shaadman‘s militia the day before trying to flee towards Paktia
Province.
―We were defending a cave assigned to us by the Sheikh
on November 13. We saw bin Laden on November 26, the
11th day of Ramadan, who came to our cave with a warm glass
of green tea in his hand. Around him that day sat three of his
most loyal fighters. Bin Laden told us to ‗hold your positions
firm, be ready for martyrdom and that he will be visiting them
again, very soon‘ and then he disappeared into the snow capped
pine forests,‖ described bin Laden‘s escape, one of the Yemeni
escapees.
***
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Noor A Khalidi
A week later, at the Special Forces base at Jalalabad
Airport, Dillon organised a meeting with John Baker, at the
time, the key CIA field operative near Tora Bora, Colonel
McNamara, the commander of the Special Forces A teams in
the area, and me to take account of the situation.
Looking at the faces of John Baker and McNamara,
Dillon said the unthinkable, ―It looks like we lost them!‖
The other two men nodded in agreement.
―My request for 800 American army rangers to prevent
bin Laden's escape was ignored by the Centcom. I was told
that U.S. troops were not necessary as Afghan militia will
provide men on the ground,‖ complained John Baker.
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―I spoke to Brig. Gen. Thomas Marshall, the
commander of some 4,000 marines, who had arrived mid-
November at Bagram Airbase near Kabul, to see if he could
provide a cordon. Gen Marshall assured me that, if allowed, his
marines could surround and seal off bin Laden's caves, and
deploy troops, to the largely unpatrolled border with Pakistan.
But Gen. Marshall was not permitted by Centcom to proceed
to the Tora Bora caves,‖ explained Col. McNamara.
―John do you have any information about the outcome
of the sealing of the borders from the other side by the
Pakistani army?‖ asked Dillon.
―According to my colleagues on the other side of the
border, Pakistan armed forces had turned out to them about
300 escapees,‖ replied John Baker.
―That is very good news, so after all, they did keep their
promise. Any significant figure among them?‖ enquired Dillon
with visible delight.
―All of them apparently Arab and Chechen foot
soldiers, with no Al Qaeda or Taliban significant figures among
them,‖ John replied.
―And on top of that, the vanishing of the invisible
leader in Kandahar, with all his command and control
apparatus,‖ added Dillon.
―If you call this keeping their side of the Bargain!‖
replied Baker and went on to say, ―I think we have made a
fundamental mistake here, a mistake that will haunt us for
many years to come. Once among the tribal people over the
other side of the border in Pakistan, bin-Laden and the Taliban
leadership will be in safe hands. I know Pakistani Tribal areas
very well. Unlike their moderate cousins here in Afghanistan,
they are very fanatical religious people who are governed by no
authority.‖
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Noor A Khalidi
I was very anxious to hear Dillon‘s conclusion. Looking
at John, Dillon remarked, ―It appears that the triangle managed
to preserve itself. The Taliban have melted away in the
population, the Al-Qaeda leadership safely among its friends in
and the ISI continues running the show in Pakistan. They will
be quietly observing the situation for a while. I am afraid it
seems that we have won a battle but the War may continue for
many years to come!‖
The End
THE AVALANCHE
Noor A Khalidi
The media items that inspired the story include: Arundhati Roy, The algebra of infinite justice, The Guardian, Saturday September 29, 2001. CBC NEWS, Opposition troops closing in on Mazar-e-Sharif, Wednesday, November 7, 2001, Complete 911 Timeline, Richard Clarke's Actions on 9/11, Open-Content project managed by Matt, Paul, KJF, Blackmax, History Commons Website, Dave Eberhart, Missed Opportunities to Capture Osama bin Laden, NewsMax, conservativecorner, Sept. 8, 2006. Doug Struck, Fleeing Taliban left Pakistanis in Mazar-e-Sharif, The Washington Post, November 12, 2001. ISI Alerts Bin Laden and Taliban to US Missile Strike, August 20, 1998: New Yorker, 7/28/2003. Patrick Cockburn, The Battle of Mazar-i-Sharif, The Independent, October 15, 2001. Paul Wolf, The Assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, www.globalresearch.ca 14 September 2003. PBS, Frontline, interview with Capt. Jason Amerine, U.S. Special Forces ODA 574 A-team captain, July 9 and 12, 2002, PBS, Frontline, interview with Lt. Col. David Fox, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Special Forces Group, July 2002, Pepe Escobar, Get Osama! Now! Or else ..., Asia Times Online, August 30, 2001. Pepe Escobar, Masoud: From warrior to statesman, Asia Times Online, September 12, 2001 atimes.com. Philip Smucker, How bin Laden got away, Special to The Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 2002. (This is by no means a complete list of all the media items consulted.)
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