CHAPTER 19

Musa Qaleh, Helmand, Afghanistan

Tuesday 11 Jul 06 1900 hrs AFT

Norowz Mohamand had seen little progress in the last few days. The siege continued as it had before. After the attempts to reinforce the garrison inside the town by land had failed, the British had sent in helicopters and an exchange of some troops had occurred. Not the whole garrison, just a part of it. Rasaq’s intelligence network had told the leaders that the initial unit there, a group called the Pathfinders still remained while an infantry platoon inside had been taken out and replaced by a mixed group of artillerymen, engineers, some Danes and ANA. More had come in than had left and immediately that the new group was settled in, the district center’s defenses were undergoing repairs and improvement.

Helmand’s Taliban groups were strengthening as well. A steady trickle of foreign fighters had made their way in through the pipeline running from Pakistan via Paktia and Uruzgan and from Iran via Farah. In addition, with the harvests finished almost everywhere, more local men were becoming available but there were never enough. Abdul Rahim had been undecided as to whether he should strengthen the effort here or at Sangin or at Now Zad or whether to open another front in the south at Gereshk or maybe even Lashkar Gah.

The last few months’ activities by the police throughout Helmand had strengthened resolve and lit a fire in men’s hearts against the puppet government where previously there had only been only indifference. Attacks on the Musa Qaleh administrative center were happening frequently although, judging by the lack of helicopter insertions, few significant casualties were being inflicted on the garrison. Despite it’s state of siege it remained strong—their estimates were that the garrison consisted of about seventy to eighty police and a hundred or so soldiers.

What had been disheartening had been the phone calls advising him of a major attack in the Pashmul area. The government troops there had attacked in the several hundreds with aircraft, drones, artillery and armored vehicles and, notwithstanding a valiant defence by the groups on the north side of the river they had been pushed aside, but not destroyed. Large numbers of his comrades had been forced out of their sanctuaries and their operations had been disrupted. Had Norowz’s lashkar been in place, a solid counterattack from below the river could have caught the Canadians between a hammer and an anvil. They might have been able to inflict some serious harm, inshallah. As it was, it was not to be. Here he was in Helmand and his lashkar strung out along the trails in the hills of Maywand on route to Helmand.

Then there had come the phone call from Dadullah’s aide: Your father is dying and you need to come home at once. He wants to see your brothers once more as well. Have them all come with you and do not delay. Slightly cryptic, but very clear. The problem was not how to quickly intercept Tofan and get him the word; they had plans for that. More difficult would be getting the word out to the various groups making their way here and then having them return in an orderly and inconspicuous manner.

“Nothing serious I hope, brother,” said Abdul Rasaq as Norowz returned to the room deep in thought.

“Not for me, brother. You on the other hand will not be happy. Mullah Dadullah has ordered my lashkar to turn back to Panjwaii. They must have been hit harder there than we even suspected and it’s clear they need us back there more than you need us here.”

“I’m truly disappointed to hear that. When will you be starting back?”

“I’ll make my plans tonight if I can have some of your time to help me with some local information about the Sangin region. My first reaction is to gather my people together there, rest them and then move them back.”

“I can give you the whole night and we have sufficient safe houses there for you. I’ll send a messenger there immediately to give them a warning of your arrival and your needs so that they can plan while we plan.”

“Good. If you can give me a single safe house now that I can direct Tofan to then we will make that our headquarters where he and I can meet.”

Rasaq nodded. “That will be easy. I have a cousin with a farm on the northeast side of Sangin maybe two kilometers from the bazaar. That should serve you well.”

 

— § —

 

The original plan to infiltrate into Helmand had been a complex one falling back on the simplest methods; small groups moving much of the way on foot through the hills of Maywand primarily by day shepherding a few goats and sheep—simultaneously camouflage and rations on the hoof. A small fleet of pickup trucks shuttled small groups across longer open stretches. Weapons moved separately from the men based on the quaint coalition rules of engagement that considered unarmed men to not be a hostile threat and therefore immune from attack and frequently even from detention.

The aim had been for the groups to make their way to several crossing points on the Helmand just above Sangin and then to move across the hills to Musa Qaleh.

There were several separate routes and several groups moving in intervals on each. On each route there were several manned control points at safe houses that checked in the group and clarified the groups’ instructions for the next leg of their trips. Phone communications with most of the checkpoints were available if needed.

The positive aspect of the plan was that once it was set in motion it ran itself and was fairly easy to follow even by unsophisticated warriors. The negative aspect was that the plan was hard to modify. In an emergency the control points could be contacted and the flow stopped but that risked security by way of the foreigners’ incessant interceptions of unencoded phone calls. To send out detailed instructions that would not create confusion was simply impossible.

No, thought Norowz. We have time. The first groups aren’t scheduled to reach the Helmand until tomorrow night. If Tofan and I can get together tonight we can do this in an orderly fashion with a little help.