Tora Bora

Not to be confused with Bora Bora.

Coordinates: 340700N 701300E / 34.116667N
70.216667E

Strikes searching for Osama bin Laden

1 Geology
The lithological nature of Tora Bora is predominantly
metamorphic gneiss and schist.[3]

Tora Boras location in relation to Jalalabad and other cities in

the provinces of Nangarhar, Kabul and Peshawar

2 Military base

Tora Bora (Pashto: , Black Cave), known locally as Spn Ghar (Pashto: , White Mountain),
is a cave complex, part of the White Mountains (Safd
Kh) of eastern Afghanistan. It is situated in the Pachir
Aw Agam District of Nangarhar, approximately 50 km
(31 mi) west of the Khyber Pass and 10 km (6.2 mi) north
of the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
in Pakistan. Tora Bora was known to be a stronghold location of the Taliban, used by military forces against the
Soviet Union during the 1980s. Tora Bora and the surrounding Safd Kh range had natural caverns formed by
streams eating into the limestone.[1][2]

The cave complex was, during the U.S. invasion of

Afghanistan, according to Donald Rumsfeld, one of the
strongholds of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.[4] As the suspected hideout of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, it
was the location of the December 2001 Battle of Tora
Bora.[4] It was reported that in 2007, U.S. intelligence
suspected Osama bin Laden planned to meet with top Al
Qaeda and Taliban commanders at Tora Bora prior to the
launch of a possible attack to Europe or the United States
of America.[5]

2.1 Caves
Tora Bora was variously described by the western media
to be an impregnable cave fortress housing 2,000 men
complete with a hospital, a hydroelectric power plant, ofces, a hotel, arms and ammunition stores, roads large
enough to drive a tank into, and sophisticated tunnel, and
ventilation systems.[6]
Both the British and American press published detailed
plans of the base.[7][8] When shown a plan during an NBC
interview, Donald Rumsfeld of the United States Secretary of Defense said This is serious business, theres not
one of those, there are many of those.[9][10][11]

Tora Bora

An elaborate military operation was planned which in1

EXTERNAL LINKS

4 References
[1] Robert Lee Hadden (2005). Adits, Caves, Karizi-Qanats,
and Tunnels in Afghanistan: An Annotated Bibliography.
[2] M.A. Weaver - report published September 11th 2005 by
the New York Times Magazine [Retrieved 2015-11-14]
[3] M. Bahmanyar - text published Osprey Publishing, 20
April 2012, 64 pages, ISBN 1780966296 [Retrieved
2015-11-15]
Aerial view, 3D computer generated image. Tora Bora is in the
upper-right quadrant.

cluded deployment of the CIA-US Special Operations

Forces team with laser markers to guide non-stop heavy
air strikes during 72 hours.[12] When Tora Bora was eventually captured by the U.S. and Afghan troops, no traces
of the supposed fortress were found despite painstaking
searches in the surrounding areas. Tora Bora turned out
to be a system of small natural caves housing at most, 200
ghters. While arms and ammunition stores were found,
there were no traces of the advanced facilities claimed to
exist.[11][13]

[4] Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown: A Memoir, Sentinel, 2011, p. 401
[5] Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker (May 5, 2011), Long Pursuit of Bin Laden, the 07 Raid, and Frustration, The New
York Times .
[6] Steve Rose, hunt for bin Laden - Tora Bora,
guardian.co.uk .
[7] Tora Bora: Al-Qaidas last stronghold, The Guardian, 20
December 2006.
[8] Bin Ladens mountain fortress
[9] Adam Curtis (Director) (October 20 November 3,
2004). The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (TV documentary). BBC Two.

In an interview published by PBS, a Sta Sergeant from

the U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha [10] Steve Rose (May 4, 2011). did Osama bin Laden build
(ODA) 572 described the caves:[14]
such a drab HQ?". Guardian.
Again, with the caves, they weren't these
crazy mazes or labyrinths of caves that they
described. Most of them were natural caves.
Some were supported with some pieces of
wood maybe about the size of a 10-foot by 24foot room, at the largest. They weren't real big.
I know they made a spectacle out of that, and
how are we going to be able to get into them?
We worried about that too, because we see all
these reports. Then it turns out, when you
actually go up there, theres really just small
bunkers, and a lot of dierent ammo storage
is up there. Je, Sta Sgt. ODA 572[14]

2.2

Air-strikes

The United States Air Force performed an air-strike at

this location during December of 2001. [15]

[11] Edward Jay Epstein (December 11, 2001), Lair of bin

Laden .
[12] The CIA Museum
[13] Matthew Forney (December 11, 2001). The Tora Bora
Caves. Time. .
[14] Against Terror: Interview: U.S. Special Forces ODA 572,
PBS
[15] Headquarters of the U.S. Air force (Oce of Lessons
Learned - AF/XOL). Operation Anaconda An Air power
perspective (document/AFD-140917-026.pdf) (PDF). Air
Force Historical Studies Division 7th February 2005, 133
pages, U.S. Air force. Retrieved 2015-11-21. External
link in |publisher= (help)

5 External links
Photo Gallery The Telegraph
Article on photographs The New York Post

See also
Qanat
Zhawar

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

6.1

Text

Tora Bora Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora_Bora?oldid=720730615 Contributors: Peter Winnberg, 0, Bryan Derksen, Rjstott,
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6.2

Images

File:Kabul,_Peshawar,_and_some_cities_in_Nangarhar,_Afghanistan_6.png Source:
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commons/5/5a/Kabul%2C_Peshawar%2C_and_some_cities_in_Nangarhar%2C_Afghanistan_6.png License: Public domain Contributors: Own work by uploader -- using this online map creation tool. Original artist: Geo Swan
File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
File:Strikes_on_Tora_Bora.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Strikes_on_Tora_Bora.png License:
Public domain Contributors: USSOCOM 20th AnniversaryHistory5566 http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/socom/
2007history.pdf Original artist: Members of team Juliet Forward (exact member unknown. either CIA or US military)
File:ToraBora-TF.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/ToraBora-TF.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Elevation data: USGS, texture data: OpenStreetMap, rendered by TruFlite Original artist: Martin D. Adamiker
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Uploaded at the English Wikipedia under the same name by en:User:Jnordmar. Original artist: en:User:Jnordmar

6.3

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