Pure mythology. Another made up Internet myth.
The facts are we did not have nearly enough troops to control all the ways in and out of Tora Bora. The locals let us down by letting him slip away. We had no choice but to rely upon the locals for the bulk of the troops.
Due either tribal loyalties or bribery they let him out. The locals with the SOF team that most probably was blocking his escape route refused to patrol one night. Things got so tense the team lead figured it might lead to a fire fight if he lead his guys out so they stayed put.
There were no orders to "let the locals take Osama". That is just another Democrat Party lie.
Believe what you will.
The fact is we could have bombed the hell out of the entire area. We had plenty of troops in the area to pick uphis pieces.