Al-Qa'ida Almost 'Immune To Attack'

The Independent ^ | 11-27-2001 | Richard Lloyd Parry

[blam]

Al-Qa'ida almost 'immune to attack' inside its hi-tech underground lair

By Richard Lloyd Parry in Jalalabad
27 November 2001

It has its own ventilation system and its own power, created by a hydro-electric generator. Its walls and floors in the rooms are smooth and finished and it extends 350 yards beneath a solid mountain. It is so well defended and concealed that – short of poison gas or a tactical nuclear weapon – it is immune to outside attack. And it is filled with heavily armed followers of Osama bin Laden, with a suicidal commitment to their cause and with nothing left to lose.

Yesterday, for the first time, a witness spoke about one of the greatest remaining challenges for the effort to destroy al-Qa'ida – its underground cave complex in the Tora Bora area of the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan. He described a purpose-built guerrilla lair, in and around which as many as 2,000 Arab and foreign fighters and remnants of the Taliban are reported to be preparing for a guerrilla battle.

The witness is an Afghan from Jalalabad who visited the Tora Bora base six months ago as a guest of the so-called "Arabs" – foreign fighters, including Saudis, Pakistanis and Chechens, who make up the rank and file of al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan. Many more converged on the base after the Taliban retreated from Jalalabad 12 days ago and, according to reports received by the anti-Taliban mujahedin who have taken over Jalalabad, the Arabs have employed local people to extend and fortify new caves.

The journey to Tora Bora begins on the road south from Jalalabad, on which Mr bin Laden rented a house until two months ago. Soon after the town of Bachera Gam, the road peters out in to a narrow track to Tora Bora, which can only be reached on foot. Here are parked 450 pick-up trucks that the Arabs leave in the care of local retainers. The Arabs operate a business here, felling the timber from the broad forests in the foothills of the White Mountains.

"Tora Bora means 'black dust'," said the Afghan witness, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear that his Arab connections will get him into trouble with Jalalabad's new mujahedin rulers. "It is completely surrounded by mountains and they have to bring in their supplies by asses, camels and horses."

Ironically, the caves – in the side of a mountain called Ghree Khil – were first developed by the men who are now the Arabs' enemies: the mujahedin, during their war of resistance against the Soviet Union. But members of al-Qa'ida – reportedly employing expertise from Mr bin Laden's Saudi construction businesses – have turned rough natural cavities into a sophisticated military base.

"It's like a hotel, with doors on the left and the right," said the witness. "They have an electrical system which provides power for the caves, driven by water from the peaks of the mountains. The entrance is wide enough to drive a car inside. You walk for 15 metres until you reach a door made of wood. After the doorway, it divides into branches."

Winters are bitterly cold in the White Mountains but, according to the witness, the Arabs are well equipped. "The villagers carry necessities to them from the other side of the mountain," he said. "They don't need to burn coal because the rooms have electricity, but there is a kind of [ventilation] station which picks up the smoke and carries it out to the sky.They have all kinds of winter clothes, so they can go anywhere."

The rock in the area is black and glistens with crystals. "There are small rooms and big rooms, and the wall and floor are cemented." he said. "You can only make out what they really are because you can see the sharp rock in the ceiling.

"Outside the entrance to the cave there are a lot of trees so it's hard to see from the sky. The local people are not allowed to walk near the cave and Osama warned that if they go near the cave they will die."

An assault on Tora Bora would be a daunting task for any army, and it is becoming clear that the new mujahedin rulers of Jalalabad are incapable of such an undertaking. Even prolonged airstrikes would not make a significant impact on the caves, and the only certain way of clearing them out would be with large numbers of ground troops.

Yesterday, the pre-eminent of the mujahedin commanders who have taken over Jalalabad, Hazrat Ali, said he believed Osama bin Laden was in the White Mountains area. "We don't know the exact number of al-Qa'ida and Taliban are there, but I'm 70 per cent sure Osama is there," he said.

[Ed_NYC]

Two words "Tactical Nuke".

[Doodle]

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

[etcetera]

"Even prolonged airstrikes would not make a significant impact on the caves"

I suppose we'll just have to see. This piece smacks of the leftist defeatist drivel that was coming out before Mazar-i-Sharif fell. Don't they ever get tired of being proved wrong and looking stupid all the time?

[Diogenesis]

[Azzurri]

Two words "Tactical Nuke".

I kind of prefer the "Poison Gas" option but either way is fine with me.

[vladog]

Immune my Aunt Fanny. Seal them in cut off the air supply, snuff them in the dark, like the rats they are.

[TomGuy]

Al-Qa'ida almost 'immune to attack'

This from the same Chicken Littles (media) who, just a couple of weeks ago, were decrying the quagmire (that never developed).

Let's see what a few dozen bunker busters might do.

[FranceForBushInAustin]

No structure is immune...

[JRandomFreeper]

It is completely surrounded by mountains and they have to bring in their supplies by asses, camels and horses."

Sounds like a "no pack animals" zone. They can be starved out. I've got the rest of bin laden's life to wait it out.

/john

[Rudder]

The wooden front door sounds inviting and certainly not impossible to breach.

[atafak]

No need for nukes. Anybody who locks themselves into a cave has to worry about air. Air intakes can carry many gases besides those normal to the atmosphere. Many of those go BOOM.

[spectre]

The "pundits" have been so consistently wrong about anyting Afghanistan so far - why should I care what they think now.

[RightWhale]

"Even prolonged airstrikes would not make a significant impact on the caves"

There are people who make a career out of figuring ways to defeat a fortress. A wooden door, you say?

[JRandomFreeper]

Outside the entrance to the cave there are a lot of trees so it's hard to see from the sky.

Trees are easy to take out. These guys are morons, major league.

/john

[Steven W.]

First, plug the ventilation shafts. Their system doesn't sound like it'll work very well after we close them off (relying instead on keeping them hidden). Then use Fuel Air Explosives on the caves with an occasional Daisy Cutter each night to keep them jumping. Bush 43 is a patient guy ... forcing those guys underground for a month to eat dirt & napalm dust before they finally come out to die on the spot would be sweet justice for 9/11.

[chainsaw]

Solution: Seal the grave. Millions of tons of rock would be hard to remove from the inside.

[Physicist]

It has its own ventilation system and its own power, created by a hydro-electric generator. Its walls and floors in the rooms are smooth and finished and it extends 350 yards beneath a solid mountain. It is so well defended and concealed that – short of poison gas or a tactical nuclear weapon – it is immune to outside attack.

Nah. Find the air intake of that ventilation system and pump gasoline into it. One of three things will happen: the gas fumes will eventually encounter an open flame or spark, the people inside will suffocate or die from the fumes, or the people inside will get wise very quickly and come out with their hands up.

[Post Toasties]

True. All the US really needs to do is to 'fumigate' each chamber in turn before entering until there ain't no more places for the Talibunnies to hide.