Posted on 06/19/2007 8:55:10 AM PDT by SevenMinusOne
Insurgents backed by al-Qa'eda have opened a new "front" on the eastern border of Afghanistan, re-occupying the Tora Bora cave complex from which Osama bin Laden escaped the closing net of US forces in 2001.
The "Tora Bora Front", as Taliban propaganda calls it, borders the province of Nangahar and has been active for about three weeks. The complex of deep caves, which proved impervious to US bombing in 2001, sits on an infiltration route from the Spin Ghar mountains between Nangahar province and Pakistan's lawless Tribal Areas, where bin Laden is still thought to be hiding.
Western officials and local government authorities confirm that Taliban insurgents backed by al-Qa'eda have reoccupied the complex.
Initial estimates of the Tora Bora force by local Afghan officials put the number at between 200 and 250, including Arab, Chechen and Pakistani fighters.
"They have reoccupied the old base," said Haji Zalmai, the district governor of Khogiani, which borders the Spin Ghar mountains at Tora Bora.
A Taliban propaganda blitz across southern Nangahar has led to "night letters" being dropped in villages boasting of the new front. They warn Afghans of the dire repercussions for supporting the government or western forces.
Officials in Kabul believe that the move is part of a more general strategic shift in the focus of Taliban operations away from their previous epicentre in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, where a series of offensives by British troops supported by US and other Nato forces has left the Taliban with a battered command structure and weakening morale.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Chechens fighters know how to use this area well....but for Taliban/AQ elements to move back here... it is more of an area to try and hide and ekk out a survival then anything offensive....
They'll die there now....or run yet again...
Did they ever give up the lease? Don’t think so - somewhere there has to be someone keeping watch over Osama bin Ladin’s tomb.
A Taliban propaganda blitz across southern Nangahar has led to "night letters" being dropped in villages boasting of the new front.Yuh-huh. So why are you dupes reporting this propaganda uncritically? Were you able to verify that Taliban fighters were really deployed there? Or is this a ruse to draw combat power away from real targets to pursue more symbolic ones? Blah-blah-blah. Do you want lots of free media and uncritical attention to pursue whatever goal you specify? Become a terrorist.
We have some new cave clearing ordinance that needs to be used up.
Better yet, we have some new stuff that has not been used in anger.
Idiots. What proof is there OBL “escaped the open net”?
I think his DNA is buried under rubble.
The sheer size and unforgivingness of the terrain make clearing them completely d*mn near impossible......But the difference today (and the past 6 years) is our enemies know in their hearts they are no longer safe in these Mtns.
We'll put guys in there....They will hunt them down and kill them......These Mtns for centuries were places of safety. No longer.
You know, if they’d find the ventilation shafts and flood them with ammonia, they’d flush them out and could pick them off as they leave. It wouldn’t take so much high tech.
I think we need to brighten their lives with a little “Arc Light”. Don’t you agree?
I think his DNA is buried under rubble.
I'll agree with you that 90% of those in the MSM are idiots - As for UBL, there are various ways / reasons for knowing he is alive ....and we have guys risking all 24/7 trying to change that reality -
We'll put guns or a JDAM on his sorry as$ one of these days (ditto that for Zawahiri). Reality is, in that area of the world, time was on their side in the short run to ekk out a survival and remain alive.......That equation turns more in our favor each day.
That one piece of HUMINT we are hunting, sweating, bleeding for is going to come in....and we'll bag his as$.
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pump the caves full of diesel and spark tem off...
((((((sHUDder)))))) That is one freaky pic.
Regarding Op Anaconda (which this author indirectly is mentioning) the reality is hundreds and hundreds of AQ/Taliban (and their Chechen/Uzbek supports) died in those mountains during that Operation......They did at times put up stiff resistance while holding the high-ground in numerous areas (AQ/Chechens that is)....but they were throughly defeated over the course of the Op. And they died in the hundreds.
Did we drop a hell of a lot of ordinance from fast-movers during it? Without a doubt! Was it all directly effective....No, not by a long shot.
But when one understands that region and fighting in that terrain you understand air power isn't going to have the same kill percentages as it does it most other areas. But it most assuredly keeps the enemies heads down!....And that is a victory enough.....while boots are moving on them.
Great pic....
All good things must come to an end in say oh, three and a half weeks.
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