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KARVASH — REPORT ON THE ESCALATION OF THE CONFLICT

Internal document | SAND-TAC | Classification level: TOP SECRET

PROLOGUE - A country before the storm

Karvash was never a rich country in the true sense of the word. People in Durgal, Selvar and Makhor lived modestly — from agriculture, pastoralism and petty trade along the old caravan routes. They knew that something valuable lay beneath their feet. The old men in the teahouses talked about it in whispers. Geologists came here once every ten years, nodded and left.

Then the Varex Consolidated came...

ACT I — Pact with the Devil

It was the year 2021 when the Karvaš temporary minister of industry, Damir Sulkhanov, signed a 40-year mining concession with Varex Consolidated. The ceremony took place in the capital, there were cameras, there were smiles. Sulkhanov got a new car. His brother received a construction contract for the first Varex camp near the Nurvan Plateau.

No one asked the villagers of Durgal, whose fields began disappearing under bulldozers six months after the signing.

Varex's regional director for Karvash, Marcus Holt—a 50-something from Atlanta with graying hair and the manner of a man used to getting what he wanted—believed money would solve everything. And at first it seemed that way. Varex built a clinic in Selvar. He repaired the road in Makhor. The local newspaper wrote about the "partnership for development".

What they did not write: that the clinic primarily treated Varex employees. That the road led directly to the mining quarry. That the editor who wanted to write another article received a threatening letter and stopped writing altogether.

ACT II — Birth of Karvash Azad Jabha

Tariq Makhsudov was a teacher. Thirty-seven years old, two children, a house on the outskirts of Selvar, which he inherited from his father. When the bulldozers came to the neighboring lands, he went to see the mayor. The mayor referred him to Sulkhanov. Sulkhanov offered him compensation — a ridiculous amount in an envelope. Tariq took the envelope, came home, sat down at the table and stared at the wall for a long time.

Then he burnt the envelope.

He was not alone. Former Karva border guard soldier Yusuf Borzak — nicknamed simply Borzak, after the ravine where he grew up — has been organizing disgruntled men from the villages for months. He was not an ideologue. He was a pragmatist with field experience and the deep, quiet anger of a man watching his home being sold piecemeal.

Tariq brought the words. Borzak brought weapons — old, but functional. And so Karvash Azad Jabha was born.

Their first action was not to attack. It was a protest — a hundred people in front of the gate of the mining camp near the Zharkan pass. Varex called Sand-Tac and Sand-Tac arrived in armored vehicles. No one fired, but the message was clear.

The second event was no longer a protest.

ACT III — Sand-Tac arrives

Sand-Tac landed at Karvashi with the first rotation of 200 operators in March 2022. The mission commander, Lt. Col. Derek Vance — a Briton with South African experience, a veteran of three continents — received a clear briefing from Holt: protect personnel, protect infrastructure, don't shoot at anyone who doesn't shoot at you first.

Vance accepted the briefing. He believed he could handle it professionally.

He believed for four months.

In July 2022, KAJ ambushed a convoy near the Korveš Valley. Three Sand-Tac operators were killed. One was not found until the next day — without gear, without a weapon, with his hands tied behind his back. Vance wrote a message to Holt about it. Holt read the message, called Varex headquarters and asked for 50 more men.

Vance got the reinforcement. He did not get any answer.

ACT IV — The Thin Red Line

By the end of 2022, Sand-Tac had lost eleven men at Karvashi. KAJ attacked mining quarries, research camps, supply routes. Never head-on — always from the Duskhari Forest, always from the Borzak Gorge, always where the terrain spoke their language. Borzak knew every stone. Every pass. Any place where the convoy must slow down.

The Sand-Tac operators began to lose their cool.

Sergeant Cole Ritter — a Texan, six years in the private sector after leaving the military — was the first to fire without direct threat. A man on Talvur Hill, a gun on his shoulder, a movement that looked suspicious. Ritter fired. The man fell. He was a shepherd. Forty-two years. Name: Osman Kethara.

Varex paid the case. The family received an envelope. Bigger this time.

Holt issued an internal memo: "The incident has been investigated. The operator acted in good faith in reduced visibility." Ritter was given a week off and returned to the rotation.

Borzak found out about Osman within 48 hours. There was a queue waiting for KAJ recruitment that week.

ACT V — Status of no return

Spring 2023. Varex Consolidated is mining at full capacity. Karvit flows from the Nurvan Plateau to transshipments, from there to factories in Southeast Asia. The price of chips is rising. Varex shares are rising. Marcus Holt gets a bonus package.

Meanwhile in the Karvash:

Varex workers do not leave the base without an armed escort. Supply routes change weekly as KAJ adapts faster than Sand-Tac changes plans. Tariq Makhsudov broadcasts encrypted messages via satellite phone and coordinates informants in three villages. Borzak sleeps elsewhere every night.

Derek Vance writes to Holt every week. Holt responds once every three weeks. Vance stopped believing that the situation could be stabilized by force. Holt stopped believing that Vance was the right person for the job.

Sand-Tac operators have an official ROE: do not fire until fired upon. Be vigilant. Do not open fire on an armed person without a direct threat. Unofficially, they say something else to each other. Trigger happy is not a policy. It's fatigue. It's anger. There are twelve names on the internal list of dead colleagues.

KAJ has different rules. Simple. Every Sand-Tac operator in Karvashi is an enemy. Every person in a Varex uniform is an enemy. No need to wait.

And so Karvash smoulders — every day a little more, every incident a little closer to the point of no return. Varex believes that more money and more men will bring stability. KAJ believes that every new Sand-Tac operator is another reason to fight. Borzak says it simply, without pathos, by the fire in the Duskhari forest:

"They brought the war here. We just accept it."

Document prepared for the internal use of the SAND-TAC command. Not to be sold to Varex Consolidated personnel without Mission Commander approval.— D. Vance, Lt. Col., SAND-TAC Karvash Command