Recent History of Panjshir

I was up early and went directly to the office to see if I could get a faster connection to the Internet. They are on a wireless router here on the FOB and it seems that there just isn’t enough bandwidth for everyone. Last night I tried in vain to upload photos with my blog and on to Facebook. I was unsuccessful at both. Thankfully I was able to get a blog (minus photos) out very late before heading to bed. As I tried to go too sleep, one of the residents of my B Hut snored so loudly and consistently that I had to use earplugs. That did the trick for me but not for Dave K. He woke up feeling miserable because the resident was right next door to him. I wasn’t successful at getting any better signal this morning so I gave up and went to breakfast. There was no hot breakfast this morning because it was Sunday and they have brunch on Sundays from 9AM to Noon…that meant we would miss a hot meal because we were setting out at 8:30.

We headed out right on time, again, no large convoy – just two vehicles with Greg, our USDA PRT team member, a few US military personnel and the two man mujahedeen security. A couple clicks up the road and we had to turn back because Dave K forgot his still camera. He wasn’t having a good morning. We finally made it to our first visit where the group met with a local contractor who was in charge of a fruit tree farm donated by the Japanese. There were the usual greetings and tour of the facility where DK did his thing. Once we finished at that location we decided to go and film some relics of the Soviet invasion. Scattered about the Panjshir Valley are literally hundreds of skeletal remains of Soviet war machinery. Tanks, armored vehicles, trucks and transports dot the landscape.

Over twenty years ago in the midst of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, this valley turned out to play a crucial role in the beginning of the end of the Soviet occupation.
Ahmad Shah Masoud was the leader of the mujahedeen in the Panjshir Valley. He was a ruthless but beloved “freedom” fighter and a great strategic warrior. The mighty Soviet military machine was no match for his cunning and more importantly his knowledge of the Valley. There were nine offensives in the Panjshir Valley and every one of them was unsuccessful. The Soviets lost 60% of all their casualties in the Afghan war in this infamous Valley. The decaying and scavenged relics of the Soviet army now lay as testament to the multiple defeats here. Masoud is revered here and is a cult figure like no other across this land but especially here. He became a martyr on September 9th, 2001, two days before the fateful day that would lead America to war with this nation. Ahmad Masoud was a mujahedeen, a freedom fighter, but he was no friend of the Taliban. As a matter of fact, he defied their advances into this Valley as fiercely as he did fighting the super power Soviet Union. Osama bin Laden realized that he and the Taliban would never defeat the Panjshir mujahedeen, so on that fateful day in 2001, two suicide bombers pretending to be reporters infiltrated the close circle around Masoud and detonated themselves as they met him. Most say the two acts, on the 9th and the 11th, two days apart were not a coincidence.

After a quick stop at the FOB for a pit stop (our excursions were all close to the base), we headed out to film some wheat fields that were being double cropped with apricot and cherry trees. The idea being that in 5 years, the farmers would be going from a low income crop to a very high value crop of fruits. Alas, when we got to the site there were women working in the fields and that meant we couldn’t do any filming. It is a cultural taboo to photograph women. The wrath of the villagers would be upon us even with our mujahedeen guards by our sides. You see, the women go uncovered while working the fields. When a woman is not working and walks the streets she is fully covered in her burka. Even then, photographing a female is prohibited. This is why the little girls in the villages we visit are so shy and self conscious.

Since we had some time on our hands, we headed to the Masoud Tomb. It sits on a hill overlooking the Panjshir Valley and is currently under construction. It is said that it will be a major tourist site in Afghanistan when it is complete. The “complex” will have a motel, museum and the tomb. On arriving at the site we had to ask permission to photograph on the site. We made our way around all the construction and the mujahedeen guards that were with us treated the grounds with great reverence. Because they were with us we got to go up to the mausoleum which is closed to the public until the construction is complete. There we saw the tomb and where the “great” Masoud lay. They took us to an overlook that had a spectacular view of the lush green valley below and explained to us that the walls around the fields that we saw were strategically built to represent the provinces and all of them together formed a replica of Afghanistan. It is said that this was Masoud’s “sandbox”. He would stand at the overlook and strategize with his commanders on tactics to defeat the enemy.

I found this lesson in the region’s history fascinating. Whether it’s the sophistication and military might of a super power like the Soviets or the ruthlessness, intolerance and savagery of the Taliban, neither could defeat a people who believed in their leaders, refused to be occupied by outsiders and defended this territory to the bitter end. This lesson is not lost on the US Military and NATO forces. They are using a strategy of cooperation, capacity building, improving infrastructure and genuinely making an attempt to help the people of Panjshir rise above the conflicts and fears of the past. As much as this area has promoted its autonomy and ability to withstand outside forces, maybe it can be the “model” province that promotes its effective and legitimate governance with the capability of providing essential services to the people and improving security and stability to a larger area of the country.

That might be too much politics for one blog…but the safety, security and stability is very evident to me as we are just visitors to a future tourist attraction.