Brave Struggle for Survival

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About the only time rebel spirits flag is when they hear the helicopters, for the Soviets' control of the air is total. During the day the Kunar valley echoes with the drone of Mi-8 utility choppers shuttling men and supplies from Chaghasaray up to Asmar or down to Jalalabad. The danger increases as dusk approaches. It is then, when a man's shadow is longest, that the armor-plated Mi-24 helicopter gunships come in low on their final patrols.

Next, as soon as the sun goes down, armored personnel carriers equipped with high-intensity searchlights rumble out of the mud-walled Soviet tank depot half a mile south of Chaghasaray. The APCs probe the mountains with their lights and shoot off silver-and orange-colored flares at areas of suspicious movements. On the night I stayed awake to watch, the light show came on every ten to 15 minutes. According to mujahidin, the most intense fighting is in the Pich valley, where Soviet tanks have been trying to secure the main road. As I listened for more than an hour one sunny afternoon, the roar of the bombing reverberating in the valley was unceasing.

Of the six main rebel groups, based in Peshawar, the Jamiat-i-Islami, (Islamic Society) led by Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former law professor at Kabul University, is the strongest in Kunar. Every Jamiat guerrilla I encountered said that he wanted to be fighting, but not one of them was in combat. When this inconsistency was noted to Malik Makon, a bearded, 6-ft. leader of 300 rebels from Chenar village, the swarthy warrior grabbed my sleeve and shouted: "Tell Rabbani we need bullets and something to shoot down helicopters! Even our tea is almost gone."

Starvation, in fact, may be a greater threat than Soviet firepower. Most of the fertile lowland is under military control. Rice fields by the Kunar River have been turned into helicopter landing pads. Troop convoys monopolize the Pich River bridge. In addition, ever since the Pakistan government's new policy of "strict neutrality" toward the Afghan insurgency, overland resupply across the border has become increasingly unsuccessful­and expensive, since the required bribes at border posts have risen accordingly. As a result, mujahidin in the hills have no meat, rice or corn. Above the Pich valley, they eat only stale millet bread and sairai leaves, which resemble holly in texture as well as appearance. "Because of Kunar's terrain I don't think we can be eliminated with guns," concludes Wahid, a 24-year-old former Kabul University chemistry student who serves as liaison between Jamiat units in Kunar and the headquarters in Peshawar. "But conditions are already so inhuman that I fear that many will starve."

More than once, the rebels' ferocity has proved adaptable when confronted with particular problems. About two months ago, mujahidin noticed that even on those rare occasions when they got a clear shot at a Soviet soldier, he often survived. They did not need a mullah to tell them that the Soviets had started wearing bulletproof vests. Soon after a force of paratroopers arrived at Asmar in early March, 40 Jamiat snipers in the hills around the small town claimed 300 kills. Snarls Guleb Seyed, Jamiat commander of Baragay village: "I tell my men, aim for the head."