At Afghan Base : Machine Shops to Mosque, Islamic Guerrillas Dig Into Caverns in Show of Strength Against Soviets

Hidden in a sprawling, mile-long complex of man-made caverns, guerrillas fighting to topple Afghanistan’s Soviet-backed government have built a military base that has everything from bomb shelters for tanks to a subterranean hospital and a mosque.

The base, in a narrow valley in southern Afghanistan’s Paktia province, is ringed by fortifications and defended by tanks and artillery with anti-aircraft batteries on the surrounding mountain tops.

I came to the base in a jeep through rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan from Pakistan with a guerrilla leader who had invited me to see it. The Communist government in Kabul, the Afghan capital, bars the entry of Western reporters.

Tank, Heavy Weapons Work

The base area resounded throughout the day with the clanging and banging from workshops where trucks and tanks were being repaired and heavy weapons serviced.

Zhawar is a sign of things to come, said the base commander, Bakhterjan Jaber.

“We’re building, we’re going to expand this center and make it even safer for the moujahedeen. “

Moujahedeen, or “holy warriors,” is what the Islamic guerrillas call themselves.

The base is a remarkable show of strength by the guerrillas fighting Afghanistan’s army and an estimated 115,000 Soviet troops. The facility is also a sign of the increased covert flow of arms and money reportedly reaching the guerrillas from the United States, China, Saudi Arabia and other nations.

Commander Jaber talked about the base in his garden as he watched the tank crews work on their hulking vehicles, the roar of the engines drowning out the base loudspeaker system summoning the garrison to evening prayers.

Jaber, a large white turban on his head, wore a bullet-studded bandoleer across his chest and a pistol and dagger at his side. Aides hovered behind him. Nearby were the stacked carcasses of Soviet helicopter gunships and Soviet MIG jets shot down in recent attacks on the base.

From Famine to Feast

Some of the guerrillas still seemed slightly startled by the base they were building after years of living in mountain hide-outs, often short of weapons, ammunition and food. Men who had been fighting for years with the kinds of rifles used in World War II were now learning to operate tanks and heavy artillery.

“This is the only place like it in Afghanistan,” said one guerrilla officer.

On the wall of the base headquarters is a green stone outline map of Afghanistan.

“This is Afghanistan. This is our country. We love it,” another guerrilla commented softly.

Jaber said Zhawar is indicative of the day when the moujahedeen will have forces equaling those of the Communists. However, he added, many Afghan guerrillas still have barely enough to fight with.

Little of the base can be seen from the air. Nearly all of the facilities are in caverns excavated in the sheer valley walls. Guerrillas would allow only a few areas to be photographed.

Scores of men with picks and shovels build new caverns and reinforce them with concrete walls and steel girders. One 15-foot-high chamber was being built as an air-raid shelter for tanks.

Thick stone and brick blast walls had been constructed in front of the entrances to the more important workshops as shields against bombs exploding in the valley. Several bomb craters could be seen in the valley floor, and guerrillas said they had been raided several times during the summer by Soviet and Afghan warplanes.

The sides of the cliffs were honeycombed with chambers and shelters. Firing ranges and other training facilities were laid out in the valley. The garrison consisted of about 200 guerrillas with some 50 armorers, technicians and medical workers, guerrillas officers said.

2 Soviet-Made Tanks

Lt. Alam Jan and the guerrillas of his tank force and some Afghan army prisoners were working on two Soviet-made T-54 tanks.

Jan, a short, sturdy man trained in the Afghan army armored corps before the Communists took power in 1978, said he had 10 tanks at Zhawar and several nearby bases that had been captured intact from Soviet and Afghan forces. Three tanks were visible at Zhawar and two others at another base.

The tanks are used as mobile artillery for hit and run attacks on government positions, but Jan said he dreams of the day when he will lead them into battle against Soviet armored forces.

“God willing, it will not be long,” he said.

Armorers worked in the base machine shops with industrial lathes and drills, repairing anti-aircraft guns. A dozen heavy machine guns were propped up against the wall awaiting attention and more weapons were lined up outside.

“We can fix anything,” boasted an apprentice mechanic named Abdullah.

Base 4 Years Old

Jaber, sitting on the vine bedecked terrace of his headquarters, said the base was about four years old, but major construction had only begun this year. The commander sat next to a captured Soviet-made telephone switchboard linking his command post to all parts of the base.

“This base is to support the moujahedeen,” he said. “We train troops, we keep our heavy weapons here and it is a main communications and supply base.”

The busy construction work is taking place during the winter lull in the fighting, Jaber said. A large hospital was being finished and the guerrillas said they hoped to have it working along with an operating room and X-ray facilities when fighting resumed in the spring.

Soviet troops had come within three miles of the base during a major offensive in August and September, Jaber said. Still, the base had never been in serious danger and the enemy could not take it, he asserted.

Everywhere at Zhawar are surreal sculptures fashioned by the guerrillas from dud Soviet aerial bombs, bits of downed aircraft and exploded missiles. The commander’s garden is surrounded by a ring of aerial bombs planted amid the flower beds.