Logar Province - Soviet Occupation

Soviet Occupation

Logar was known among Afghans as باب الجهاد' Bab al-Jihad', or 'the Gates of Jihad' because it became a fierce theatre of war between Mujahideen groups and the Soviet army and it was the main supply route of Mujahideen coming from south and Pakistan and going towards Northern and Central Afghanistan. According to Mohammad Hassan Kakar, a historian and personal survivor of the war, the region was the site of the largest attacks by the Soviets throughout the war; he further states that the military caused extensive casualties and denuded, looted, and vandalized the area. Swedish journalist Borge Almqvist, who visited the province in 1982, wrote, "Everywhere in the Logar province the most common sight except for ruins are graves".Almqvist, Borge (1984). "International Afghanistan Hearing". In Committee for International Afghanistan Hearing. Soviet operations included using bombing, the use of flammable liquids to burn alive people in hiding, poisoning of drinking water, and destruction of crops and farmland. According to Kakar, the Soviet actions in this province amounted to genocide.