The Mujahadeen Commander

Written in Herat City, Afghanistan

May 2005

His gaze was intense, his clear blue eyes burning with an intense fire fueled by years of fighting. His hands were strong and rough like sand paper, no doubt from thousands of firefights, shooting his trusty AK-47 assault rifle. As we sat on big cushions in a small, dark, smoky room in the back of one of his restaurants, we drank green tea and ate bread, he spoke to me of hard living; living in the mountains with nothing but the bare necessities; of coming down to Herat under the cloak of darkness and in disguise; of not trusting anyone but his close circle for fear of betrayal to the enemy; of losing over 600 soldiers, 96 in his own personal staff. He spoke of being close to getting captured on several occasions, and barely escaping certain death…by decapitation. But even while speaking of this, he said it with a smile on his face, for he knew that he and his band of fighters outlasted and defeated the “Bear” and the “Students”.

As he described events in the not too distant past, the look in his face betrayed the glory of having won battle after battle, of having won the war, or in his case…the wars. The Commander talked easily and freely about skirmishes with the Soviets, about setting ambushes 50 meters from them, about spending time after time not letting them get more than 50 meters away. When I asked him why so close, he responded that during that time the Soviets had airplanes and helicopters in the sky constantly, like fire-flies, everywhere, day and night. They had to stay that close because they knew that the Soviets wouldn’t bomb themselves, so, ironically, there was safety being extremely close to the enemy.

The commander and his group fought every day for 20 odd years….everyday. Every minute was a struggle to survive, to stay ahead of the enemy, to stay alive. Every dawn brought a new set of problems; a new challenge to overcome. Sometimes they would run out of ammunition, sometimes the ammunition was bad, sometimes the weapons were faulty. Other days it was plain and simple…there was no food to eat. And still they forged ahead, led by this indomitable, fearless, formidable mujahideen. And they fought until the day the enemy was conquered…and then what?

I asked the commander what happened to him and his mujahideen after the Soviets left, after the fall of the Taliban, after there was no more enemy. He said that along with his soldiers he stayed under the command of his old commanding officer, Ismael Khan, who once again became governor of Herat. Khan rewarded his trusted field commander by making him head of his own security. Needless to say, he is still “someone” in the city.

And now, after almost four years since the defeat of the Taliban and with his boss and comrade in arms gone to the new Afghan government in Kabul, this old jihad fighter is building and dedicating a museum to his fallen comrades. He is building The Mujahideen Museum in Herat. There are tanks, helicopters, artillery pieces and landmines amongst many other things to be displayed when it opens. The best part is that these are not replicas or training items, but the real thing. One can still see the scorch marks in the ordnance and the bullet holes in the helicopters.

When I visited the site on February 2005, there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and it was cold, very cold. The snow covered everything, as if concealing it and keeping it ready for action; however, the commander, now a general, told me the reason for this museum is that he wants future generations of Afghanis to remember what they all went through, the sacrifices his comrades made. He wants them never to forget how they persisted against all odds and beat the mighty Red Army. He wants to do this by showing his Afghan brothers the “tools of the trade”, the tools of destruction.

One great example is the Soviet Mi-24 HIND helicopter gunship sitting in the front of the museum. The HIND was one of the most feared Soviet military machines. It caused fear with the destruction it projected. Even my translator, upon seen it kicked it a few times. When I asked him why he did that, he simply responded “because it killed many Afghans, I hate it”. No one was safe nor could escape the Hind’s lethal power. In the end, the Mujahideen downed over 300 HINDS with shoulder fired, surface to air missiles.

I was told the museum items have been inerted and demilitarized for safe display. The last thing the General said to me was there will always be another fight that needs winning. I am sure that should Afghanistan be invaded or involved in another war, the General would take his place amongst the great leaders and take up arms once again and defeat whomever needs defeating…along with his ‘museum’.