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<blockquote data-quote="berettaman" data-source="post: 733793" data-attributes="member: 214"><p>Conflicting information.</p><p><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0210-05.htm" target="_blank">http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0210-05.htm</a></p><p></p><p>Published on Sunday, February 10, 2002 in the Boston Globe </p><p>How US Strategy in Tora Bora Failed</p><p>Deals by Afghan allies may have let Al Qaeda leaders escape</p><p> </p><p>by John Donnelly </p><p> </p><p>TORA BORA, Afghanistan - Inside the elementary school that was functioning as the US special forces command center, a US military adviser was livid. An Afghan commander had brokered a cease-fire at Tora Bora without consulting anyone. </p><p></p><p></p><p>''Why did you do the cease-fire?'' the American demanded to know, according to two participants. ''We don't want to stop the bombing.''</p><p></p><p></p><p>In December, anti-Taliban fighters gathered in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, as a bomber circled overhead. (Globe Staff Photo/Dominic Chavez) </p><p> </p><p>He ordered the air assault against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda forces to resume immediately, at 8 a.m. on Dec. 13, radioing a B-52 bomber overhead and asking that it deliver that message for all to see. </p><p></p><p>The pilot wrote a gigantic ''8 ON'' in the blue sky, using the plane's trail of exhaust.</p><p></p><p>Over the five days that followed, the air assault, combined with fighting by local Afghan troops, left 300 bodies scattered across the landscape. But the success of that operation - and the overall impression, at the end of the battle, of a routed terror group - mask the failings of the US mission.</p><p></p><p>A first on-the-ground examination of the Tora Bora battle (the Pentagon allowed no access during the fighting) reflected the dangers inherent in the US strategy of relying on double-crossing and power-grabbing warlords while US ground forces remained on the fringes of the fight. The tactics gave bin Laden and Al Qaeda leaders several opportunities to escape, and it is likely that they did. </p><p></p><p>''The Americans relied too much on these commanders. They were trapped by them,'' said Malik Haji Mohammed Nasir, the chief secretary for the Nangarhar Province and a village elder from the village of Agam, about 3 miles north of Tora Bora.</p><p></p><p>At key junctures of the battle, the Americans learned they had little or no control.</p><p></p><p><strong>During the US and Afghan cease-fire of Dec. 12 - which an Afghan commander negotiated with Al Qaeda in hopes that some would surrender - several hundred Qaeda members slipped through the valleys and over the White Mountains into Pakistan, Afghan commanders say</strong>.................</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="berettaman, post: 733793, member: 214"] Conflicting information. [url]http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0210-05.htm[/url] Published on Sunday, February 10, 2002 in the Boston Globe How US Strategy in Tora Bora Failed Deals by Afghan allies may have let Al Qaeda leaders escape by John Donnelly TORA BORA, Afghanistan - Inside the elementary school that was functioning as the US special forces command center, a US military adviser was livid. An Afghan commander had brokered a cease-fire at Tora Bora without consulting anyone. ''Why did you do the cease-fire?'' the American demanded to know, according to two participants. ''We don't want to stop the bombing.'' In December, anti-Taliban fighters gathered in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, as a bomber circled overhead. (Globe Staff Photo/Dominic Chavez) He ordered the air assault against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda forces to resume immediately, at 8 a.m. on Dec. 13, radioing a B-52 bomber overhead and asking that it deliver that message for all to see. The pilot wrote a gigantic ''8 ON'' in the blue sky, using the plane's trail of exhaust. Over the five days that followed, the air assault, combined with fighting by local Afghan troops, left 300 bodies scattered across the landscape. But the success of that operation - and the overall impression, at the end of the battle, of a routed terror group - mask the failings of the US mission. A first on-the-ground examination of the Tora Bora battle (the Pentagon allowed no access during the fighting) reflected the dangers inherent in the US strategy of relying on double-crossing and power-grabbing warlords while US ground forces remained on the fringes of the fight. The tactics gave bin Laden and Al Qaeda leaders several opportunities to escape, and it is likely that they did. ''The Americans relied too much on these commanders. They were trapped by them,'' said Malik Haji Mohammed Nasir, the chief secretary for the Nangarhar Province and a village elder from the village of Agam, about 3 miles north of Tora Bora. At key junctures of the battle, the Americans learned they had little or no control. [b]During the US and Afghan cease-fire of Dec. 12 - which an Afghan commander negotiated with Al Qaeda in hopes that some would surrender - several hundred Qaeda members slipped through the valleys and over the White Mountains into Pakistan, Afghan commanders say[/b]................. [/QUOTE]
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