PRAVDA MILITARY CORRESPONDENT DESCRIBES LOCAL ASPECTS OF AFGHAN WAR
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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
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Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
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Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
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Sequence Number:
11
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Publication Date:
January 1, 1984
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OPEN SOURCE
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J \ ~~ ~' uY_~ ~ ~~ "1 ~ ~rrr'a~,ir~a. var. vl~i.i -
a 3 r~~v~2c~c ~~ ~ ~ ~.
AFQiAIVI S TAN
Moscow MOLODOY KOI~~Zt~NNIST in Russian No 1, Jan~~p 83-89
..~
[Article by Lt Col Petr Studenikin, review er and assistant editor of the_
military section of the newspaper PRAVDA: "Pilaw I Know How to Build a Pdew
Life" ]
[Text.] Soldiers of the Revolution
left, all the way to the horizon, stretched the red dunes of-the Registan
[Desert] in ocean-like swells; to the right, dead "lunar" Mountains, and
under them, as if giant termite hills had been stuck together, .stood
dwellings that were labyrinths of clay villages [kishlaI~]. Seen clearly were
bomb craters, smashed cupolas of roofs and signs of burned out buildings.
fro months ago, a large group of bandits [dushman] had been routed here.
The crew of the Afghan helicopter conducts one last air reconnaissance prior
to the operation being prepared by the corps of the Afghan people's army.
According to the aecurity organizations known as the KYiAD [expansion
unkna~n], after having been defeated in the mountains, the counterrevolution
has made its nest in some of the villages in the green zone of Kandahar.
I peer -- until my eyes start hurting -- at the na,rraw, little alleys through
which tanks could never pass, the tiny courtyards. .that are as deep as wells,
and the lush, overgrown vineyards stretching out for many kilometers in all
directions where an entire regiment and even a division could be concealed.
Not a soul! Perhaps w e are flying too high. But at this paint, the flight
engineer, P~tohammed Ilan, touched my shoulder and pointed first in the
direction of the Registan Desert and then the mountains, and I caught sight
of a black dotted line made up of artillery pieces, tanks-and armored
vehicles. These were units and subunits of the Afghan corps moving out to
their initial positions. A bullet from a. British BUR .rifle suddenly pierced
the bottom of the helicopter; it was a confirmation of the undeclared war
that was going on.
The helicopter seemed to hang aver the strange and mysterious planet: To the
...At the corps command post, w e were met by Col Mohammed Ka'air, the corps
commander. Short and stocky, with a face that shaved intelligence and
resoluteness, he greeted us happily and energetically, and briefly laid out
the operational plan.
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"The bandits [dushman] have changed their tactics:- They do not',engage in
open combat with large forces, but-have "dissolved" in the mountains-and-
villages, and have begun to engage=in terrorism,.Qur mission is to find and
neutralize the bandits. Last time, Gul'buddin Ktiekmatiar,-the "commander-in-
chief of the armed forges of the Islamic party of Afghanistan," as he calls
himself, engaged us in combat in this very-same-village. The heavy, bloody
battle, with tanks, artillery and aviation lasted-several-days. The bandits
were defeated and the "commander-in-chief" was wounded and barely made `it to
the border. I~Je shall see if he decides to engage us today."
"41e11, anyway, "` -Col- Ka.bir' looked at his watch. ~ "It is time to start. "
A cgmmand rang out and dense grey-lines of Afghan subunachine gunners moved
out through the cemetery toward the high clay walls with narra~r.slits in
them. ~1e also rioved out. -with Sr Capt P'ohammed Anvax, the division political
officer, Sr Lt Khazrat Shir, the rflgiment propaganda officer, and tw o
enlisted men, Fatakh`from Farah and-Basal from Gura.
she hot December sun-(+27 degrees in the shade) warms our backs and the w hi+.e
clay of +,he walls blinds our eyes. Stillness. j~e enter a tiny courtyard,
a,nd it is as if w e had crossed over centuries. Haw can w e describe an Afghan
dyrelling that looks as if it had been especially built-for defense? The
bandits, after seizing a village, convert each-such dwelling into a small
fort. Surrounded by an outside blank wall, the inside is like a labyrinth,
with narraz passageways, small enclosures for cattle, all divided by the same
kind of clay stall. A bullet gets-stuck in it and a shell easily penetrates
it w ithout exploding. Iiere, you do not see your combat buddy, neither. to the
right nor left.- You do not know what aiaaits you-. two meters ahead or on
either side behind the wails -- a grenade, a bullet, or the blow of a dagger.
'I}~ro months ago, -tanks and armored vehicles were burning in these tiny
passagw:ays, and defenders of the revolution were being killed at point--blank
r4i:g^. '?'he bandits even fired machine guns and mortars as if they were
Pistols -- at point-blank range. x was told by uarticiya.nts ~f thnRP ttia.??les
that b'a{+,alions and regiments were braken down into rou a of -10 e
Fe.ch group out n Oven en ~. There w ire some improbable situations. For
oxarrple, soldiers in thQ garden viould surround a house in which there were
'r~a,ndits; o+.her bandits would surround the garden where the soldiers were.
It x as like a multi-tierod cake, and it w as_ a harsh examination. of each
solcli pr's readiness. And they passod the examination.
A large group -- around 800 laa,ndits -- was crushed. Today there are only
sporwdic, single rif7.e shots, short machine gun bursts and dull-explosions of
hand grenades. 3ut it bannot be definitely 'de-termined-yet if the enemy has
r~trea.ted to the center of the grQsn zone in order to fight or if they have
hiddar, thoir t?:eapons. That sometimes also happens.
~.re aro not in the tiny courtyard,-next to an old peach tree, by the owner,- a
grey-bearded elder. .instead of a document he gives us a photograph from his.
farraly album- in which w e see him looking at us; an elderly woman -- the
mistress of the house -- and five sons, two of them in the uniform of the
Afghan people's army.. Sr Lt IOZOZrat Shir translates the ensuing
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conversation: "The owner's name is Fazil' i~tohammed. He is b~ years old. He
lives by selling fruit from his little pomegranate garden. Iie can live on
what he sells for 4-5 months. He goes to Iran or Pakistan to make money.
His father and his father's father did the same thing. He believes that a
~ new life is beginning, and that is why he sent his sons, Dust T?tohammed (he is
now a lieutenant) and Y~kiayr Pdohammed (he is fighting somewhere. in Baglan), to
j the army to defend the revolution.
"I have seen a lot in my time," says the old man. "T"y grandfather was a
slave, my father was also, and even I w as, but my sons. here axe never going
to be slaves. It is worth fighting for that...."
Yes,. for the first time in-the entire history of Afghanistan the April
revolution proclaimed that its most important task was to guarantee. true
equality for all peoples and tribes, large and small, regardless of language,
religious belief, way ~f life [nomadic or sedentary] or place ~f residence.
In order to achieve this-goal the Central Committee of the People's
Democratic Party of Afghanistan [Iv'DPA] and the government of the DRA
[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan] intend to grant, guarantee and secure to
all peoples of the republic not only formal,. but actual equality: Equal
opportunity in developing an economic life and a rich and distinctive
culture, including self-education. in the native language. The party and
government, are paying especially great attention to an accelerated
development of areas populated by national minorities and tribes that are
bacIffaard in social, economic and cultural matters.
The enlisted men, Fatakh from Farah and Rasul from Guram -- our "bodyguards"
-- grew up in remote mountain villages. From their childhood years they both
learned about the bitter lot of hired hands and felt the searing pain of
landowners' whips. This is not. their first year in the army. T~)YYen their
two-year enlistment ended, Fatakh said to the commander: "Tdow is not the
time to think about one's small house. One has to thinIi about the big hause
-- our homeland. I shall be a soldier until w e annihilate all the bandits."
Fatakh has taken part in 33 combat operations.
"They fight boldly. They s;re the first to go into an attack and the last
ones to leave the field of combat," says the commander about them.
I asked Fatakh what he wants to do after the final victory.
"I will go home, to the mountains. Now L knew haw to build a new life-...."
For this destitute family, the victorious April revolution was like water
from a spring for a traveler, like the gust of afresh mountain breeze on a
hot, stifling day. His sisters were given the. opportunity to study, his
brother became a pilot, and FataIch himself -- when the achievements of the
revolution began to be threatened by the forces of domestic and foreign
reaction -- joined the Democratic Organization of Afghan Youth (DOIgA) and
.took a submachine gun into his hands, so that he could fight the enemy.
Today's Afghan army is a political school that is attended by tens of
thousands of former laborers and nomads, deprived and illiterate people.
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From the very first day, the enemies of the revolution began an intensive
strugglA for the minds and hearts of .the soldiers. They sent their agitators
into uni+.s and subunits, tryin ?o turn the soldiers to treason. Th~:y
obstructed the military draft ~aften forcibly sending draft-age youths into
Pakistan, to the terrorists' bases) in order to forcA soldiers to thra,? aa~ray
t:~eir rifles, and took their families as hostages into the mountains. Lies
and vengeance, terrorism and black7*~ailtaQre put into operation. All in vain.
~?ihi1P at first there were cases of individual subunits 'n over to the side
nf_thQ _r?~r, prrnvolution, right naw only individuals or small groups of
servicere A
~e officer corps of the Afghan army has also changed qualitatively.
Sr Lt I~azrat whir -- our interpretex -- from his childhood, together with
his father, bent his back in working for Khan Shir I~iohammed, who had 1,000
dzheribs of land. I~azrat, harever, managed to finish eight years of school
and enter the Kabul tecl'~riical school for auto mechanics. Isere he learned
russian. ("Please give my best regards to our teacher, Valentina
AleIisandrovna .olomeyets. I think she is from the Ukraine.") During his
third year ~azrat Shir left for the army to defend the revolution.
Political officer of the company and battalion; propaganda officer of the
regiment; dozens of battles, thousands of kilometers of fatally dangerous
mountain patr~s; hundreds of illiterate youths have been placed by him --
I~Ozazrat Shir -- into the revolutionary ranks.
...A bullet flew by next to us, and our group was immediately returned to the
command pos+.. Col Kabir, the corps commander, happily announces: "shore
will be no big battle. Several caches of arms have been seized.... I~Touldn't
you like to see the royal villa?" Ise pointed to a high castle-palace
reigning over the entire green zone,
The royal villa -- the former one, of course -- is a strong, stone fortress
o:~ the side of a mountain, na-r occupied by the local "detachment for the
defAnse of the revolution." These-detachments (somewhat similar to ours.
during the ChOIy [Special I,ission Detachments] days of the civil war),
comprised of the poor people and those devoted to the revolution, .exist
throughout the entire republic. 'T'hey fight the counterrevolution and defend
their homes and villages against the bandits.
Along a narrow staircase, pock-marked by pieces of grenade shrapnel, past
fierce-looking, black- and grey-bearded sentries wearing cries-crossed
machine gun bandoliers and cartridge belts, w e climbed to the flat roof s.~here
we could see all around us, as from a low-flying helicopter. ~~le find
oursAlvAs in a +.,ight circle of armed people, old and young. t7e are amazed by
the "assortment" of weapons: British and Egyptian rifles, Spanish machine
guns, Palcistani grQnades, Belgian pistols...
"Aliakbar, commander of the detachment for the defense of the revolution,"
introduces himself in Russian, a iieutena.nt of the tsarando3- (militia). "kre
are atill having a difficult time. Our peasant still has the same little
world re has had for centuries: A pair of oxen to till the soil, a w ooden
plough; he is a born feudal princeling whose word is lac~r ; the village
mullah who has unquestioning authority.... But a breal: has already taken
place in thQ hearts of the people. They have made their choice."
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found ourselves at the edge of the roof. The observer was a 13 or 14 year-
old boy. Slung over his shoulder w as a PPSh [ submachine guru] w ith ~ light:
blue ribbon wrapped around its stock. 1Ie was. talking excitedly and pointing
to the distant stream.
"Bandits," said Aliakbar, giving me the binoculars.
beyond the river, in the grass, I saw dark figures. Four or five. They would
appear, then vanish. Then I saz~ that they w ere being pursued by a group of
Afghan soldiers. ~dext to me, a machine gun began to rattle angrily. After
the third or fourth burst, the figures disappeared and did not reappear any
more.
"And that is how ~?re live," said Alikbar, lieutenant of the tsarandoy, getting
up from the machine gun.
The Enemy
"Farouk, son of Sardar T~lohartmed. "
"Nationa.lity?"
"Pushtu."
~~A.ge~~~
"22 years."
"parentage?"
"P~Iy father is a merchant; my father's father a small trader...."
"Do you know has to read?"
"What do you knas about the April revolution?"
"When I served in the army (Farouk, son of Sardar P~Sohammed was discharged
from the people's army eight months ago), the officers said that a revolution
for the people had taken place. I returned home, and the mullah sails
' There wasn`t any kind of revolution....' He gave me a flatbread and a
bullet, and said: 'Go kill a soldier, and I'll give you three flatbreads and
three bullets...."'
"I3ut what do you yourself think about the revolution?"
"I don't think an, tx hing~yself. The mullah i~
everything."
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'T'his conversation tool: place in the w omen's half of the house, the palace of
a fvrner millionaire smuggler, row occupied (and lived in, worked in, and as
it has h~;.pper~ed, even fought in} by personnel of the 't{hAD, the organization
of state securi+.y of Kandahar Province. The previous night the f~AA and a
battalion for defense of the revolution conducted a successful combat
opPrs,tio:r, they seized a cache of arms and llk dushmai: terrorists. Farouk,
sore of Sardar Ioliammed, is one of them, a mar, conderrrned by Gul' buddin
I:1-:eI:.nwtiwr, ?he "commander-in-chief" of the armed forces of the Islamic Party
+r~ ? ~+ ~~
of t.~,;hwrau ;,ar..
Arid I rer:Arrbered a trip that I had twl:en over two years ago nay to the Pushta
tribe ~?rith naiz T?Iohammed, the minister for border and tribal affairs of the
~?rtA. Iin .r as mAditatively looking out the wiridar at the vast expanse seen
unc.or th~taing of the aircraft and was telling of the needs and hopes of the
simple noriad: armed their joyless, hard life.
"Cur party and government," said the minister, "has a deep respect for
iiatior~al, religious, and tribal traditions and customs. i'~~is was proclaimed
nest emphatically by Pa.brak Iiarmal, the general secretary of the I~~?I':1
[I?tatior~al n~mocratic Party of Afghanistan] Central Committee and chairman of
the ~i?A Revolutionary Council during a recent radio and television appeal to
the people. i?1e are trying to do our k?ork in such a bray that the sword of the
pe-.ople's paYsr, its position and the measures passed in the best interest of
the vast majority of the representatives of the Pushtu nomadic tribes and
peasants, s?: ill find a real response and support in places in every little
corner of cur country."
Faiz T?iohammed, who lead comp from the Pushtu people , and who wanted to see
both his felloh tribesmen and all people of Afghanistan happy, died at the
hands of a dushman.
Among the primary problems that faced the republic immediately after the
April revolution, was that of land reform and the problem of Afghan nomads.
There are nearly three million of them, that is, nearly a fifth of the
population. I?lost of the nomads are Pushtus, although there are also
represer~ta+,ives of other peoples and nationalities of Afghanistan.
"Our problems," noted Hafar Khan, one of the well-known Pushtu leaders during
our discussion, "in many ways are identical with the problems facing the
entire country. They include a struggle against poverty and sickness,
illiteracy and economic bacIaiardness. It is a struggle against those who are
trying to prevent our people from building a ear life."
...Thr~y pass through the small off"ice of the KhAD chief, young and strong, in
white turbans (Sunnis) and in blacl~ (Shiites), some silent, others talkative,
bearded and beardless; and in my notebool: I have these remarks:
"For I:illirg an activist of +,he IPA, when confirmed by other 'honest
T?:uslims,' they pay me 10 thousand afghanis, but if I bring a head, I receive
50 thousand.... Abduldzhalil (an unskilled laborer in Afghanistan earns
around 2 tizrnasand afghaius per month)."
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Said I~Iussein, a cutthroat from Gul'buddin I~eLmatiax's special group of
condemned men tells the falluaing: "Our main mission today is to w ark among
the masses. ode have become smarter; w e do not cut up or punish our fellow
t~4uslims openly. For this there are courts of justice organized in the
Islamic committees. Acts of terror -- killing of teachers, tsarandoy
workers, members of cooperatives, activists -- are noc~r done wearing the
uniforms of soldiers of the Afghan people's army...." hnd he told in detail
how in the green zone of Kandahar his group., posing as soldiers, brutally
dealt with six activists. And in Kandahar itself they shot an B year-old
child whose father worked in the. local government office.
Shirali (apparently a nickname): "TTo, I am not a terrorist. I am a
recruiter. I recruit youths and men for .our educational centers. IIow do w e
do it? The Islamic Committee (it can be either on the territory of
Afghanistan or Pakistan; it does not. make any difference) promulgates a
'lar~r' on calling up youths from age 18 to 20 (or the entire male population
capable of carryin a gun) far military service. -The servants of Allah (the
recruiters -- P.S.~deliver the text of these 'law s' to the villages, the
'recruits' are gathered in groups and sent across the border...."
The texts of these 'law s' conform strictly to the ancient Oriental style:
"In the name of Allah, the all-benevolent and all-merciful, w e have been
permitted to turn to you, the most revered...." ~iext are listed the duties
to be performed for Allah by the P~iuslim brothers and directly by the "Islamic
Committee-" And only after this comes the request -- an order -- to send so
many youths and men with the bearer of the letter. But if all this does not
have an effect on the elders, there is a "harsh version," in which the pious
tone is replaced by a threatening tone.- In the event that even this does not
have an effect, there is an ultimatum: By such and such a date, collect and
deliver to such and such a place so many youths and men.
...They took away the last Bushman terrorist and w e stayed alone with comrade
D., the KhAD chief (T was asked not to name the w orkexs.af state security).
~rilight, unnoticed, had engulfed the office. t1e sat silently. Either the
approaching darkness was not conducive to tall, or w e both have really been
affected by our draw n-out meeting with the enemy. Then, somewhere nearby, a
single rifle shot rang out and was answered by the angry staccato of a
submachine gun. Several minutes later began what seemed to be a furious,
random exchange of fire. j~dith heavy footsteps someore ran along the
corridor, and someone -- just a little boy, but with a submachine gun -- flew
into the office and apparently received a reprimand from the chief, far he
left in a noticeably quiet manner. The exchange of fire ended as suddenly as
it had begun.
Comrade D. stood up, opened the safe, and tool,; out a thick notebook filled
with Yiandw ritten Arabic curlicues....
The notebook had hundreds of intelligence .reports: "Rustam" reported from
Pakistan that 600 units of air defense weapons of the "Red Eye~ty~w ere
being sent to the aZ an ar in enz? and-'~imurg vehicles; "Fayda"
(also from Pakistan) reported about a secret meeting in Cheman in which
several dozen heads of large groups participated; their awn man from the
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small rural district of Argarrdab {a suburb of Kandahar) sent a map showing
the 'ta i Inter deploymen+." of bandit groups in the Kandahar greet: zone. And so
forth, wed so Earth....
It is not nr:ough to give the bandits a place. They also have to be supplied
?or combat, with every+..hing they nAed. Every country that adheres to the
.isgraceful, semi-legal, anti-Afghanistani pact carries a responsibility.
ti,ome supply +,he bandits with mortarN, recoilless tr oapons, flamethrow ere and
sr1a11 zxr;:s; others, for Arample, the Ua, with "ground-air" typo missiles,
mortars, Jeeps, with flamethrarers, and th~? latAst rerlades and mines (there
wre especially large numbers of these); the FPG, with antitanlr rocltiets;
Japc;.ii, with field radio transr.itters; and Egypt, ;?rith hand antitank
rortars....
~~x:;I, arc' instructors for the prir~rary anti-Afghanistar~i base, in+,o tirhich
PaI~ist2x, has been made by th^ US and other imperialis? pacers, continue to
flex; ~lor~g the arakorum road, through +,,hs seapor+,s of I~rachi and Guidar,
and by wit.
...Along thy, darlt corridor and the narrar little staircase, past the ~r indarr s
filled ire ~?r ith stories and turnAd into peepholes, w A ~~r Pet dar n w ith comrade D.
into a sma11 courtyard, as darl: as a w Qll, where ~?r n it ere a:?r cited by young, 1 ~
to 2~ year-old defenders of the r?valuti021, z?; aitill~; to go out on a combat
r:issior.. `fzsy irore dressed in their national costume. It could ba guessed
tI"iat they ~.~' submachine gulls under their light blue wrld black capes.
Among the combat troops I recognized i~iavruz (also a psnudon ,~.), the fearless
roconnaissancA scout. Jlis fatatras the samQ as that of thrusands of Afghans:
Ilis father, a poasan+., was brutally killed in front of his ey~as by the
lar~darner's loyal followers. IIe himself also had his sham of grief.
rocause of +,his, hQ accepted the revolution with all his heart, and from the
first day tras ir. the ranks of its defenders in one of the roost difficult
s^ctors. IIe ~,r orlcs among the enemy, and the least bit of carelAssness would
result in a terrible reprisal. Buf__every_ time ho discovers Knoth~:r gang of
bandits, he iU raring +o go into open combat.
I na:J. first met I~'avruz on the -Ave of this operation. II? had just returned
fret,! the Qnamy camp. j:-e had +.ime to speak of many +.,ha.r~gs, and as we parted,
idavruz paid:
"I a.^.; r~o+, afraid of dea+.h, because I am fighting for +,he bright future of
Afghanistan.... I f~;el fortunate when I am able to nc;u+,ralize a ba.ndit...."
`1'hA dark little figures slipped through the narrow gate and immediately
bleYidow in with the rippling night of the guarded town. Sor:~,*herQ, on the
cuts,.irts, occasional shots could be heard, and than, red tracers from
subr::aclli ri? `uIi uursts t? ould t?xaw their designs or. the b1acJ; velvety sky.
'I"_;e v: Iii to sun rose over tl:e seemingly dead, grey mountain ridges. On a
helicopter, I trs.s catching up t itll a column of SOViet and Afghan trucks,
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pro+,ected by tans and arrTOred vehicles, loaded c?, ith supplies for the ppoz,].n
of l;irenI>ot, whard-to-road: 'oorcl.er area of the LIIA.
PorOUS volcanic pumice tl^:at had solidified from its bailing liduic'4 stata,
I;zrizes -- the wells for ur:dArgroLU^id canals (ullique system of Vr at~r-supply
that had. developed horn over thousands. oZ yAars}, fnrtraG~-7i~e villa~r?ssrit'~
hemispheric roofs oi':^.ous^s, as if they s~,ere sealed off bo~?~ivQs; all this
was unusual alid foreign. Copt ~Ielil?;am Akhmadulin' s engineers wore in ar:
armored vehicle . The ~r frlt" , pun~;en+., dust t}lat Ldd,5 being raised ir! front of
our vohiclo by the tanks of Lt Il' ya Osipov Drily inerPasAC, thr~ f~t~~; n~ ~n *,.~n
unearthly reality of the mountains and t'r!e labyrinth-lil.Q dl~rellin~s.
fihe road veerix:~; off from the river charnel ~r e:nt steeply up the mountain, arc?
Captain /':I>}1m~7,duliri signal^d for me to go t'xoaa n into the armored ;;ersonnel
carrier, slammc:ci shut thr~ hatch, ar:d yelled out: "If ~~re pass through this
s-actor safely, the little Afgllar. kids ,?rill have bread and. sugar...."
IT^ did not finishrlis sentence' tirhpn the vohiclo t1 as bounced up wed a sharp
clap resounded.
The ~?rhite Afghanista,rri sure burned one's eyes until thFy hurt: On the dirty
road the mQdical instructor, aasha Iarinyak, a }ioldavidn from f