He, who always took the enemy by surprise, and the sound of his special gun convinced the friend to stand and the enemy to flee, unexpectedly fell into the enemy's trap and was wounded.
Author: Mohammad Hussein "Said"
(literal translation)
Though I have lived long, said the lying shore,
No trace left, what am I?
The wave of the river waved its hand to him and said:
I am if I go, if I do not go, I am not.
Iqbal
The story of the bullet that took Ahmad Shah Massoud from the battlefield.
Shortly after the victory of the Leninist-Stalinist April Revolution (Saur), shadows of horror spread everywhere. A national uprising swept the country in the form of a nationwide explosion.
In Panjshir, although the uprising was delayed for a year, within a few days it swept the entire valley (two counties and one district), wiped government power out of the valley, and turned the area from Salang to Darband into a front line against the government.
The leadership and control of the waves of this spontaneous and chaotic "flood" were in the hands of a 26-year-old boy who from the very beginning mixed the truth of his existence with myth. A young man with a thin white face and piercing black eyes. He was tall and thin, and his thick, wavy hair often repelled his pakul.
He went through deep peaks and valleys, from Salang to Shutul in the west and from Darband to Kukhband in the east of the valley, with the speed of the wind, and was present everywhere when it was needed, and this was a dignity and a miracle in the eyes of the people.
He, who always took the enemy by surprise, and the sound of his special gun convinced the friend to stand and the enemy to flee, unexpectedly fell into the enemy's trap and was wounded.
I tell the story of his injury, told by commander Ghafurkhan:
“There is a war going on opposite the Red Ridge of Jabalussiraj. The enemy was driven back from some positions. Other groups of Mujahideen remained behind the hill. Amir Sahib, accompanied by commander Ghafurkhan, pursues the enemy. The goal is to assess the positions taken by the enemy near the positions of the Mujahideen and must be repulsed. They move along the mountain range that separates from Salang like a big hand and dominate the Jabalussiraj market and are visible from three sides of Salang, Kuhistan, and Parwan.
They reach the desired position with short runs and stops that can be calculated in seconds. Amir takes binoculars and Gafurkhan takes aim, but he sees only an iron helmet.
Then he gives the binoculars to Gafurkhan and takes aim himself. He presses the weapon to his shoulder, slowly moves his index finger to the trigger, and the sound of an English rifle known as “Shields” is heard, but the bullet does not hit, and Gafurkhan points to this miss...
Amir Sahib (Masud) took aim again. This time, at a shorter distance than before, the bullet hits the target, at the same time the enemy, as if crouching around his position, catches them under a barrage of bullets.
The position, made in the form of a hunting lodge with "round stones", is vulnerable. Part of its wall collapses due to concentrated enemy shots.
Staying put is more dangerous than before.
Amir Sahib splits the bullet equally between himself and Gafurkhan.
It's time to use consistent and effective infantry tactics: "Fire and move!"
Gafurkhan is the first to open fire. Amir Sahib runs up to twenty meters, stands behind a small stone, and fires. Gafurkhan runs and takes position in front of Amir Sahib.
Now it was Amir Sahib's turn to run again. This time he runs about fifty meters and takes position. Gafurkhan sees that the enemy bullets hit very close in front of Amir Sahib and around him, in other words, surrounded him.
Ghafur Khan continued:
“He turned to me and looked at me in such a way that I realized that he was injured. Then the Amir Sahib sank down one small cliff and left a place for me too. One side came up to him. Enemy fire continued on our position. Then we started shooting together. Half an hour later we decided that we could move now. I hung the Amir Sahib rifle around my neck and held my rifle at the ready.
The ground was undulating but we were able to walk to the top. But Amir Sahib stopped moving due to heavy bleeding. We lifted him onto his back and started walking. When I felt that I had run out of energy, we got to a safe place. Amir Sahib sometimes lost consciousness due to heavy bleeding. When I asked, he wouldn't let me examine his wound until we brought a doctor.
The wound in the thigh was deep, and the burns around the wound showed that the bullet was deadly. I was thirsty, and I was no better than him. People gathered, I could not answer questions from fatigue until Kaka Tadzhuddin came, and we transferred him to the rear of the front.”
But, despite the fact that his comrades hid his wound, the news spread with lightning speed throughout the front line. In his absence, the men dissipate like the smoke of old guns and their “full mouths”. Communist government institutions are being restored, a general amnesty is announced, and guns are being collected from the villages.
This invincible spirit after the defeat of 1354 (1979) again feels lonely and helpless wounded. According to his manuscripts, the memory of this incident made his hair stand on end years later, but he was a wave full of pulsation and movement that left him alone on the shore of death, and maybe that's why he loved these lines of Mawlana Iqbal:
“I am if I go, if I don’t go, I am not.”
