The Network - Jason Elliot [124]
From Bamiyan, we’ll head west to Yakawlang and then across the mountains to Panjab. This much everybody agrees on. But the route after that is a little confused, which is not surprising because there aren’t actually any roads, but dusty and unmaintained tracks instead. The men’s fingers trace over the approximate route, but only Aref is really interested in the details.
I’m not too worried because the Afghan way of moving cross-country is simply to ask the route from whoever’s coming in the opposite direction. The maps of the country are in people’s minds, not on paper, and trying to follow a map too closely in Afghanistan is an almost sure way to get lost.
The following day Mr Raouf approves our request to test the explosives. His team is clearing a minefield an hour’s drive east of Kabul, in the vicinity of an old Soviet military position. We drive there together two days later. Mr Raouf proudly introduces us to the men at the site, who are mapping the cleared areas and marking the perimeter of the danger zone with stones daubed in red paint. An unexploded mortar round has been found and Mr Raouf allows us to place a charge next to it. Explosives are generally arranged in the form of a chain, each successive part creating a larger explosion, so we want to use as many of the components as possible to see if they all function as they’re supposed to. So we take a slice of the plastic from one of the blocks, wrap it in a length of detcord, tape a detonator to the free end of the detcord, and finally attach a short length of blasting fuse to the detonator.
The area is cleared and from somewhere comes the wail of a siren. Our little team, along with a dozen other men from the local group, stare fixedly at the point where I lit the fuse several hundred yards away. Thirty seconds later a brown cloud of dust leaps from the ground and a moment later there’s a spectacular bang as the sound wave reaches us. There are grins all round. All the components of the chain have performed as they should. It’s as if our faith has been restored in the purpose of the op, and now at last it’s within our reach. Back at the trust’s HQ we load the explosives into the G and return it to the safety of the garage at the house.
We send a report to London and receive a signal from Macavity approving our forward passage. We’re nearly ready to move now, but I must try to make contact with Manny one last time before we go. On the Monday, once again, I change into my shalwar kameez so as to be relatively invisible, adjust my nylon belt and holster and slide home the loaded Browning. I put my phone in one pocket, one of the silk E & E maps in the other, and walk ten minutes from the house before hailing a taxi.
There is no one waiting for me at the palace, and once again I have to struggle with my disappointment. I have one more day to try, and then we’ll have to move because we can’t wait another week. Apart from anything else, I’m not happy about the risk of our meeting place having been compromised, which increases as more time passes.
For the final time I repeat the process the following day. The taxi driver asks if I’m Iranian, and I tell him I’ve grown up in Iran but come back recently. He gets talking about his life.
‘I fought with Massoud in Panjshir at the time of the jihad,’ he says, referring to the period of the Soviet occupation. ‘I was wounded and went to live with my cousin in Mazar. After he was killed I had to fight with Dostam. When we came to fight in Kabul I was captured by the government and my brother paid for my release with his house. Then the Taliban accused me of being a spy and tortured me. They put me in a freezing basement and beat me with cables. My uncle gave them his house, so they let me go. I was lucky. What is there to come back to?’ he asks cynically, waving a hand towards the destruction on either