rockets were fired into it. The regime blamed the blasts on ‘tech-
nical problems’, but the following day, Soviet television reported
that the Mujahideen were responsible. Forces were despatched to
secure the area and in nearby Paghman, historically a place of
retreat for the Kabul elite from the bustle of the city, heavy fight-
ing wrecked much of the town, including the Arc de Triomphe de
Paghmanwhich dated from King Amanullah’s rule in the 1920s.
On 9 October 1987, a car bomb in Kabul killed 27 people, and on
27 April 1988, the tenth anniversary of the communist coup, a
truck bomb killed six and wounded many more. This period also
witnessed rocket attacks on Kabul: an attack on 9 May 1988 killed
at least 23 people, and from this point on, such attacks became
more frequent. None of these pointed to the imminent loss of the
city, but they highlighted the inability of the regime to develop a
strategy to insulate the residents of the city from threats to life and
limb.
Western Afghanistan
Herat remained an area of considerable tension, with heavy fight-
ing in August 1986, and on 7 April 1987, serious clashes on the
streets of the city killed more than 50 Soviet and regime personnel.
However, Herat was not the venue for large-scale battles or oper-
ations such as Magistral. Rather, Ismail Khan concentrated on
coordination, chairing a major meeting of commanders in Ghor in
July 1987. Within the city itself, there was notable disaffection
with the regime: on 22 May 1988, following the defection to the
resistance of Major-General Fazal Ahmad Samadi, dissident sol-
diers blew up an ammunitions dump. However, the regime proved
able to cope with these challenges: in Herat, neither side was fix-
ated upon short-term gains.
Northern Afghanistan and the Panjsher Valley
The death of Zabiullah had a very bad effect on organisation in the
north, and while major resistance operations continued, such as the
112 The Afghanistan Wars