Operation Magistral

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Part of the Soviet war in Afghanistan
Date November 1987 - January 1988 Location Paktia Province, Afghanistan Result Indecisive Soviet victory.
Combatants
Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union, Image:AfghanFlag1980.png Democratic Republic of Afghanistan	Afghan Mujahideen
Commanders
Boris Gromov	Jalaluddin Haqqani

Soviet war in Afghanistan
Storm-333 – Khost – Panjsher I-IX – Maravar – Zhawar – Magistral – Hill 3234 –

Operation Magistral was a Soviet Army military operation during the Soviet war in Afghanistan that began in late November 1987 and ended in early January 1988.

It was launched in order to open the road from Gardez, Paktia Province to the town of Khost and deliver supplies to the population and the Afghan government troops in the city situated on the border with Pakistan. The road had been blocked by the Mujahideen forces and a local tribe for several months.

The offensive was carried out by the 108th and 201st motorized divisions of the Soviet 40th Army, the 103rd Soviet Airborne division, the 345th airborne regiment and the 56th airborne brigade, and several Spetsnaz units, along with troops from the 8th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 25th infantry divisions and the 15th tank brigade of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

The ground offensive began after weeks of failed negotiations with the Jadran tribe and Mujahideen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, who had numerous bases in the region and hoped that Khost would eventually fall into their hands which would allow them to proclaim the first territorial stronghold in Afghanistan independent of the pro-Kremlin regime in Kabul.

Special units of the 40th Army conducted a massive propaganda campaign using radio broadcasts and distributing thousands of leaflets, calling on the Jadran tribe to retreat and the local population to leave the area.

After massive artillery and air bombardments, and heavy clashes on the ground, the Soviet troops took control of the Satikandav mountain pass. The first convoys reached Khost end of December. Yet some pockets of resistance still remained for several weeks.

Some of the events of the operation were used for the plot of the movie 9th Company.

Further reading

• Boris Gromov, the last commander of the 40th Army, "Limited Contingent" [1], Progress Publishing House, Moscow, 1994, in Russian.ru:Операция Магистраль

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