Siege of Khost

During the nine-year Soviet–Afghan War in the 1980s and the subsequent Afghan civil war, the town of Khost was besieged for more than eleven years. Its airstrip's 3 km runway served as a base for helicopter operations by Soviet forces.

Siege of Khost
Part of the Soviet–Afghan War and the Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)
Date 1980 – 11 April 1991 Location Khost, Khost Province, Afghanistan Result Mujahideen victory Soviet withdrawal (1988) Mujahideen forces capture the city (1991)
Belligerents
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan  Soviet Union (1980–1988)	Afghan Mujahideen: Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin Haqqani network Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami Local Ahmadzai tribes Afghan Arabs
Commanders and leaders
Mohammed Rafie Abdul Qadir Shahnawaz Tanai Mohammad Aslam Watanjar Abdul Rashid Dostum Nazar Mohammed Mohammed Asif Delawar Sergei Sokolov Valentin Varennikov Boris Gromov	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Jalaluddin Haqqani Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi Ibrahim Umari Haqqani

It began soon after the invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet troops, when Afghan guerillas took control of the only land route between Khost and Gardez, effectively putting a stop to the Soviet advance.

Operation Magistral was an offensive launched to relieve it at the end of 1987. The first convoys reached Khost at the end of December 1987. When the main Soviet force had withdrawn, Mujahideen groups cut off Khost once again, as they had done since 1981.

Following the creation of the Commander's Shura, which united the Peshawar Seven and assault was coordinated to capture Khost, an assault which at least according to former special envoy to the Mujahideen Peter Tomsen was more an ISI operation than a Mujahideen one.[1] This fighting was a co-ordinated attack by the forces of Hezb-e Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Jalaluddin Haqqani and local Ahmadzai tribes led by Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi. The Ahmadzai were able to spearhead the assault after Hezb-e Islam and Haqqania suffered setbacks, and eventually able to capture the city and negotiate the surrender of the garrison resulting in victory on April 11, 1991.[2]

References

1. Tomsen, Peter. The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failure of Great Powers. 2011
2. Tomsen,Peter

Further reading

• De Ponfilly, Christophe(2001); Massoud l'Afghan; Gallimard; ISBN 2-07-042468-5
• Bear Trap: Afghanistan's Untold Story by Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf
• Greenwald, John (Jan 11, 1988). "Afghanistan Fighting for the Road to Khost". TIME. Retrieved 2008-01-28.