Funny, I just thought of something. We could use the Pansjhir as a jumping off point for airmobile SF operations as long as it's in control of the "friendlies" (this is where bribe money comes in).
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 09/19/2001 2:27:01 PM PDT by KC Burke
MALASPA, Afghanistan, Sept 19 (AFP) - Rusting wrecks of Soviet tanks litter the landscape in the strategic Panjshir Valley, a reminder of repeated failed attempts by the Red Army to capture this mountainous enclave.
Assassinated Afghan opposition military chief Ahmad Shah Masood, known as the "Lion of Panjshir," defended his stronghold first from the Soviets during their 1979-89 invasion and then the Taliban who ousted him from Kabul in 1996.
Forced to retreat five years ago into the Panjshir Valley, northeast of the capital, Masood ordered his men to dynamite a section of the road just above Jabal Saroj, the entrance to the valley, virtually sealing it off.
Since then, Masood twice more blocked this key route from the plains outside Kabul into the Panjshir, which elsewhere is protected on all sides by mountains stretching up to 5,000 metres or more.
Buried last Sunday in his beloved birthplace, in the Panjshir's Baraka district, Masood's 15,000-strong forces still remain the only bulwark against the Taliban, controlling the valley as well as a slice of northeastern Afghanistan and pockets of territory elsewhere.
Taking advantage of his absence from the battlefield, the Taliban launched an assault two days after Masood was targetted by assassins on the frontline beyond the valley, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Kabul.
But the attack was repulsed, and the front's commander, General Babajan, is hoping for US aid now that Washington is poised to retaliate against the Taliban and their "guest," Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, prime suspect for the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
Within striking distance of Kabul, the impregnable Panjshir Valley is a major asset for the opposition as it seeks to regain the initiative against the Taliban, which has stamped its rule on more than 90 percent of Afghanistan.
In Shasht village, at the northern end of the valley, elder Ali Mirza Akrami, dressed in a turban and Afghan trousers and tunic, sighed as he recalled Masood.
Haunting prayers for the veteran 49-year-old guerrilla commander read by the mosque's Imam (preacher) resounded throughout the dusty village as black flags fluttered in the wind from its baked-mud one-storey houses.
But Akrami was confident that even without its inspirational leader, the fragmented opposition would hold onto the Panjshir.
"First of all, the Taliban are worried about their own skins now, not about us. Secondly, if there are attacks we have defended ourselves for more than 20 years and we will do so again," he said. ..........(see link for balance)
Funny, I just thought of something. We could use the Pansjhir as a jumping off point for airmobile SF operations as long as it's in control of the "friendlies" (this is where bribe money comes in).
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Good maps of the natural gas infrastructure and pipelines for the Caspian project.
Good map of Eursian pipelines.
Hamiltonian I eagerly await an experienced persons input. :-)
Whether or not this link here is true, this is a possible scenerio that is daunting.
Some interesitng background info.
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