The Shah-i-Kot Valley (also Shahi-Kot, Shah-e-Kot and other variant spellings) is a valley in
Afghanistan's
Paktia
Paktia (Pashto/Dari: – ''Paktyā'') is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the east of the country. Forming part of the larger Loya Paktia region, Paktia Province is divided into 15 districts and has a population of roughly 6 ...
province, southeast of the town of
Zormat. The terrain in and around the valley is notoriously rugged, located at a
mean altitude of . Shah-i-Kot means "Place of the King" and it has historically been a redoubt for Afghan
guerrillas hiding from foreign invaders.
History
The area was the scene of fierce fighting between the Afghan
mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
rebels and
Soviet forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...
during the
Soviet–Afghan War, as the
battle for Hill 3234
The battle for Hill 3234 (Russian: Бой у высоты 3234) was a successful defensive battle fought by the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment, Soviet Airborne Troops, in Afghanistan against a force of some 250 Mujahideen rebels wh ...
.
In 2002 the valley was also the scene of
Operation Anaconda, one of the largest battles of the
War in Afghanistan.
See also
*
Khost-Gardez Pass
References
Valleys of Afghanistan
Wars involving the Taliban
Landforms of Paktia Province
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