The Bala Hissar uprising was an insurrection that took place on August 5, 1979, at the historical fortress Bala Hissar on the southern edge of Kabul, Afghanistan. Insurgents, as well as rebellious Afghan Army, officers infiltrated and occupied the fortress. They were met by ruthless air bombardment by the Khalq government's MiG aircraft and artillery tank attacks.Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to the Present by Gilles Dorronsoro, 2005.War in Afghanistan by K J Baker, 2011.
The uprising was commanded by Faiz Ahmad of the Marxist (but anti-Khalq) Revolutionary Group of the Peoples of Afghanistan (RGPA) and engineered by the Afghanistan Mujahedin Freedom Fighters Front (AMFF), a united front of anti-government Maoist and moderate Islamist groups.Sholayi by Enrico Piovesana It was planned to be the first in a string of insurrections at major army garrisons and bases, the objective being to deal a military and political blow to the ruling PDPA/Khalq government and pave the way for a military coup.
After the five hour battle, tens of Maoist cadres were killed or arrested, and the government swiftly wrested back control of the fort. Some RGPA central committee members like Mohammad Mohsin, Mohammad Dawod and others were executed in the Pul-e-Charkhi prison. Government trucks with mounted loudspeakers drove around Kabul announcing that the military action was retaliation of another international imperialist plot against the "people's regime".Russia's Muslim Frontiers: New Directions in Cross-cultural Analysis by Dale F. Eickelman, 1993.
Except from the Herat uprising, the Bala Hissar rebellion was the most significant of the many uprisings that took place throughout Afghanistan in 1979AFGHANISTAN: History, Diplomacy and Journalism Volume 1: History, Diplomacy and Journalism by Dr. M. Halim Tanwir, 2013. before the start of the Soviet-Afghan War.
References