The Pader Watan were local counter-guerrilla organizations employed by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and their ally the

Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, later known as the Republic of Afghanistan, was the Afghan state between History of Afghanistan (1978–1992), 1978 and 1992. It was bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, by Iran to the west, by the ...

(DRA). The first Pader Watan unit appeared in 1983, it is unclear if they were active before this.

Organization

The Pader Watan consisted of former

mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...

who defected to the DRA to form paramilitary units. The Pader Watan units assisted the Soviets by guarding key points along highways, and also providing protection to Soviet-DRA convoys, and watching out for night attacks, and infiltration by Mujahideen. They were referred to derisively as "Traitors in Turbans".J. Bruce Amstutz
''Afghanistan: The First Five Years of Soviet Occupation''
DIANE Publishing, 1994. , . Pg 186, 292.

References

{{reflist Military units and formations established in 1983 Paramilitary organisations based in Afghanistan

Organization

See also

References