What Is Tora Bora?

Following the 9/11 event in the United States, the American troops the located Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan from where he managed to escape under their watch. This fight took place from December 5 to 17 2001. While members of the (SBS) British Special Boat Service team were listening in on the conversations of a captured short wave radio, they stated that they heard a voice which they believed to be of Osama Bin Laden. Further, two members from this team noticed a tall figure moving in camouflage jacket with a protective detail of 50 men and went into a cave through an entrance which was very hidden from the public In these caves, Osama Bin Laden seemed concerned. These caves in the mountains promised to be his
They had secretly followed their target from Jalalabad directly into the mountains and lastly into Tora Bora, a very remote mass of caves. When this team reached the foot of the mountain, they established a base in a nearby Schoolhouse. Four soldiers moved into the mountains together with 10 Afghan militias. Tora Bora was the greatest rugged terrain several of these people had ever experienced. The battle for Tora Bora began when they reached an outcrop and then saw a big group of around 900 Al-Qaeda operatives (Kerry, 2009). Berntsen Gary, who was the commander stayed at the base while the others went into the mountain. He issued the orders for the soldiers to open fire even before informing his higher headquarters so as to get their approval. For the next 56 hours, the team called in air strikes. In fact, one of the soldiers who was on the ground during the battle, even stated that the fire fight was crazy; the threw everything that they had at their target including B52 and B1s. Each and every person join in the fight, because Osama Bin Laden was here and they needed him
Late, after the fight, the Al-Qaeda radio stations indicated that Osama Bin Laden escaped and was still alive. The Al-Qaeda operatives also changed the intercepted communications so that the Americans could not listen to them identifying their new locations. This was a clear victory for them. The American soldiers knew that Osama Bin Laden was not far from the mountains and if anywhere only 2km from one of their other teams. When the members wanted to move in on him, they were told to lay back because they lacked the numbers. So the members continued to move up while waiting for the order that was never given. The US government during this fight was to limit the number of American Boots on the ground. The Afghan fighters, on the other hand, operated under orders of the Special Forces and limited CIA teams which were also supported by air power. These Afghan Mujahideen proved to be useless and unreliable Allies because while they were at Tora Bora, they adamantly refused to fight at night, allowing Al- Qaeda to reoccupy the ground that they had gained and painfully won (Kerry, 2009). Worse still, they agreed to a cease- fire which helped Osama Bin Laden to secretly escape. These fighters were clearly not well trained. Further, they looked as if their heart was not in fighting and capturing Osama Bin Laden. There was total disarray on the battlefield. It seem as though the soldiers were fighting a losing war.