Mawlawi Abdul Qudoose is a 28 year old from Badghis province’s Maqur district. He received his education in the various Madrassas of Afghanistan and Pakistan and has fulfilled his sacred Jihadi duties in Afghanistan’s various fronts.
Mawlawi Abdul Qudoos is from amongst the very close associates of the founder of Jihad against the Americans in Badghis province, Shaheed Mawlawi Dastageer. He is counted from the ones who began their sacred empty-handed Jihad against the American invasion in Badghis in very early challenging stages.
He was handed the leadership of Daraboom district of Badghis province during his Jihadi duty and is currently serving as the chief of explosives development and martyrdom operations in the whole province.
Here we would like to present to our readers an interview which was conducted with the said honorable person regarding the Jihadi situation in Badghis province.
Al-Emara: Dear honorable Mawlawi Sahib, before everything else, can you give us information about the rise of Jihad in Badghis province? How and when did the Jihadi movement begin?
Answer: نحمده ونصلي علی رسوله الکریم امابعد
To answer your question I must mention that when America began its invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban lost their control over most of the northern provinces. So as in the rest of the country, gunmen and warlords also once again established their presence in Badghis and began terrorizing and persecuting its believing and Mujahid people.
Just to mention what I have seen for myself, some 200 to 300 gunmen used to raid local villages and loot the homes of anyone thought to have links with the Mujahideen or Taliban while rigorously focusing on finding weapons and ammunitions. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in the early years of the invasion, no heavy or light arms were left for the Mujahideen to use against the occupiers. It was due to these harsh conditions why combat against the Americans in Badghis got delayed even tough the people held a great zeal for Jihad but due to lack of weapons, no operations took place.
In the year 2007, myself and the former head of Jihad in Badghis, Shaheed Mawlawi Dastageer were studying in Helmand were we also took part in operations. Until that time, no Jihadi operations had taken place in Badghis. Abdur Rahman Haqqani had recently been appointed as the governor of Badghis by the Islamic Emirate, so with his consultation, me and Mawlawi Dastageer headed from south towards Badghis with the intention of Jihad. We were so empty-handed that by the time we reached the halfway point, all out money was spent. We decided to begin our work after reaching Bala Marghab district. We initially reached out to an old Jihadi commander in Bala Marghab’s Paneerak village to furnish us with weapons and may Allah reward him, he gave us two Kalashnikovs and then Mawlawi Baaz Muhammad Sahib from Ghortu village handed us an RPG. We found some more Mujahideen with the passing of time and began Jihad in the same valley with the stated weapons. After our numbers reached 12, we firstly hit the convoy of security guards of an NGO, the next night we attacked Bala Marghab district headquarters and various others check posts later. We operated at night in the initial stages but then gradually started work during the day after acquiring war booty. Our numbers increased even more and weapons became sufficient. We established our Jihadi base in a mountainous area called Houz Kabod, located near Bala Marghab and as rumors spread throughout Badghis that Mujahideen have become active, people with Jihadi zeal from all districts came to this very place in order to participate. In this order our numbers increased and operations extended towards others districts like Maqur, Daraboom etc and large swaths of lands fell to out hands. Shaheed Mawlawi Dastageer was out military chief at that time. That is how Jihad in Badghis began and two years later, Mawlawi Dastageer was captured in Herat province and was imprisoned for six months. After being released, an important incident took place under his leadership in Bala Marghab’s Aka Zo area where large amounts of booty was seized. On 07/09/1387, a 45 vehicle enemy convoy was hit, half the vehicles destroyed and half seized while many enemy soldiers were also captured alive and a huge amount of arms were seized which are still being used today. Tens of light arms, mortars, 82mm recoilless rifles, D-SCH-K heavy machine guns, PK machine guns and other various weapons were seized. After this, Jihad picked up incredible pace throughout Badghis and then a time came when 80% of its soil was cleansed from enemy presence.
The pace of the ongoing Jihad in Badghis, if we look at the realities, is due to the blessings and sacrifices of those same sincere Mujahideen who took on the leadership roles and never wavered in their stance despite facing those harsh and testing conditions. Among those Jihadi commanders worth mentioning are; Mawlawi Dastageer Sahib, Mawlawi Ismael, Ma’win Baaz Muhammad, Jamaluddin Mansoor, Abdur Rahman Akhondzada, Mawlawi Sayed Hakim, Mullah Amar Deen, Mullah Fazal Deen, Mawlawi Abdur Raziq, Sayed Ali Shah Agha, Mullah Soz Gul and some others.
Al-Emara: Thanks honorable Mawlawi Sahib for providing heart-felt information about the past few years Jihad. Now can you shed some light on the current Jihadi situation in Baghis province?
Answer: All praise is due to Allah, as you may already know that the Jihadi operations of Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate in Badghis are proceeding with great strength at the moment. The majority of its people are either physically or de facto Mujahideen. Locals who are fed up with the persecution of the invaders and armed gangs see this sacred armed Jihad as the only way of salvation. With the blessings of Jihad, most of Badghis has been cleansed from the enemy presence. Mujahideen are physically present in Bala Marghab, Ghormach, Aab Kamrak, Sang-e-Atish, Maqur, Qadis, Jund, Daraboom and all the other districts. The enemy presence in most of the districts in only limited to their bases. If we look census wise, there are 1050 armed Mujahideen in the fronts of Bala Marghab at the moment, 500 in Ghormach and 419 in Daraboom. Similarly, we have a number of other Mujahideen in the other districts according to its needs while we can also count on the entire population of Badghis to stand next to Mujahideen in times of need.
The only place in Badghis lacking Jihadi operations is the provincial capital, Qala Naw. The enemy also tried to arm local militia however due to not receiving any backing from the people, this plan has miserably faltered.
Al-Emara: In the northern and north western provinces of Afghanistan, the enemy often claims that they have decimated the fighting capability of Mujahideen in last year’s operations and in the ‘Arbaki’ program. How much of this claim is true in Badghis province?
Answer: It is very true that the enemy carried out operations in Badghis just like the other northern provinces and have activated the ‘Arbaki’ program but due to not receiving any popular support from the people, these programs have come to naught.
Mujahideen may have vacated some areas in the face of large scale air and ground operations of the enemy but due to the nature of guerilla warfare, this is called a tactical retreat however the Mujahideen again established their presence in those same areas and forced the enemy out while handing them heavy losses.
I will forward the mountainous range of Nakhcharistan in Daraboom district, which connects to several other districts as an example. The enemy carried out a huge air and ground campaign in the area a while back during which they built 6 check posts and entrenched in them nearly 200 troops and local police (Arbaki/militia). After some time when the operation ended, nearly 300 Mujahideen participated in their own offensive in which all 6 check posts were uprooted. Some enemy troops were killed, some fled while others were airlifted by helicopters. This area is now completely free from enemy presence. The enemy similarly built check posts in other rural areas however they are now finding it difficult to provide it with logistics while many are being abandoned as their daily losses increase. Many people who had joined the enemy as part of the ‘Arbaki’ program are now defecting to the Mujahideen with their weapons. Besides the occasional personal surrender, many ‘Arbakis’ have surrendered with their entire groups. As an example, a group of 50 ‘Arbakis’ surrendered themselves to the Mujahideen in the early days of Jamadi ul Awal in Qadis district. Such incidents demonstrate that all the enemy efforts have been wasted. They have nothing to show in the military field and have only their radio propaganda to fall back on through which they want to give confidence to their moral lacking troops.
Al-Emara: Respected Mawlawi Sahib, can you share with us a memorable or an interesting story about Mujahideen activities in Badghis province?
Answer: The Mujahideen in Badghis, just like the rest of Mujahideen in Afghanistan, have presented extraordinary sacrifices in its few years Jihad, performed heroic deeds and have carved out relics of courage and valor however its is very bemoaning that such incidents of the Mujahideen of Islamic Emirate have gone unnoticed and have not been written down. I strongly believe that if the great deeds of Mujahideen from all over Afghanistan were to be collected, it would fill a whole chapter is Islamic history. The incident I want to recall is about the bravery and Jihadi fervor of a 12 year old Afghan.
A while back in Daraboom district
