At the Siege of Kabul

STILL-LIFE BY SHELLFIRE

Qarga Dam—Through field glasses, the Communist defenses of Kabul appear as a line of citadels and castles perched atop a range of hillocks on the outskirts of the city. Flanking the solid square bulks of mud-brick fortifications, black silhouettes of dug-in tanks, forward bunkers, and gun emplacements with the guns raised high are clearly visible against a carpet of snow. The Qarga Dam—in whose lake Soviet soldiers used to go swimming—along with the adjacent grounds of the diplomatic golf course, has been turned into a bastion. Kabul’s grain silos, the rock with the ancient Bala Hissar fortress, and the yellow mass of Najibullah’s Presidential Palace rise above the expanse of snow-covered city roofs within range of our mortars. This is now the last Communist security ring around Kabul, the last line of posts separating the mujahedin from the center of the capital.

RS

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Radek Sikorski

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STILL-LIFE BY SHELLFIRE

Qarga Dam—Through field glasses, the Communist defenses of Kabul appear as a line of citadels and castles perched atop a range of hillocks on the outskirts of the city. Flanking the solid square bulks of mud-brick fortifications, black silhouettes of dug-in tanks, forward bunkers, and gun emplacements with the guns raised high are clearly visible against a carpet of snow. The Qarga Dam—in whose lake Soviet soldiers used to go swimming—along with the adjacent grounds of the diplomatic golf course, has been turned into a bastion. Kabul’s grain silos, the rock with the ancient Bala Hissar fortress, and the yellow mass of Najibullah’s Presidential Palace rise above the expanse of snow-covered city roofs within range of our mortars. This is now the last Communist security ring around Kabul, the last line of posts separating the mujahedin from the center of the capital.