Siege of Khost

Siege of Khost
Part of the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Afghan Civil War (1989-1992)
Date 1980 - April 11, 1991 Location Khost, Khost Province, Afghanistan Result Eventual Soviet withdrawal
Belligerents
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Soviet Union (1980-1988)	Afghan Mujahideen Arab-Afghan Mujahideen
Commanders and leaders
Mohammed Rafie Abdul Qadir Shahnawaz Tanai Mohammad Aslam Watanjar Abdul Rashid Dostum Nazar Mohammed Mohammed Asif Delawar	Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Jalaluddin Haqqani Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi

The Siege of Khost: during the nine-year Soviet war in Afghanistan 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.

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 When the main Soviet force had withdrawn, Mujahideen groups cut off Khost once again, as they had done since 1981.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. 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.

References

• 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. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966408,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-28.