Battle for Tora Bora
Location of Tora Bora in Afghanistan
| date | December 12, 2001 to December 17, 2001 |
|---|---|
| place | Torah Bora |
| output | Coalition forces win, the planned arrest or killing of Osama bin Laden fails because of his escape |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
|
Coalition : United States United Kingdom Germany Northern Alliance |
|
| losses | |
|
Coalition: |
approx. 200 dead |
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The battle for the mountain fortress Tora Bora was a military conflict in the context of the conflict in Afghanistan between a conducted by US forces and coalition of al-Qaeda , supported by the radical Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan in December 2,001th
background
Tora Bora ( Pashto : تورا بورا, “black dust” ) is a cave complex in the White Mountains ( Safed Koh ) in the province of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan near the Chaiber Pass .
The naturally existing caves were expanded into a fortress in the early 1980s with the support of the CIA , among other things , which served as a retreat for the mujahideen during the war against the Soviet Union . It is also possible that tribes resident in eastern Afghanistan began expanding the caves as early as the 19th century during the British occupation.
The mountain complex is considered to be a well-developed cave fortress with tunnels, weapon stores, hospitals, accommodation and fighting stalls for more than 1000 soldiers. It is believed that the fortress is largely self-sufficient and also has its own power supply through hydropower.
After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , the US overthrew the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan with the help of a coalition of Western countries and units of the Afghan Northern Alliance with the aim of reducing the influence of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the country and taking away the organization's places of refuge. The US also suspected that Osama bin Laden , the leader of al-Qaida, would be in the mountains of Tora Bora, which is why US military units began combing the area in December 2001.
Course of the battle
Towards the end of the Allied invasion of Afghanistan, members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban had holed up in the mountains of Tora Bora, and Afghan tribes hostile to the Taliban began combing the difficult terrain with the help of American and British air support. As part of the fighting, the US armed forces also used the BLU-82B " Daisy Cutter " , one of the most powerful conventional aerial bombs in the world.
Subsequently, however, the al-Qaida fighters managed to negotiate a ceasefire with the local warlords and militia commanders in order to avoid military annihilation. In retrospect, this ceasefire enabled numerous high-ranking members of al-Qaida and the Taliban to flee to neighboring Pakistan, probably including Osama bin Laden.
Fighting resumed on December 12, and it is believed that the rearguard of the evasive terrorists engaged opposing troops in smaller skirmishes to gain more time to escape. This subsequently led to a renewed flare-up of the fighting between al-Qaida and the tribes allied with the western alliance, and special forces from the USA and Great Britain also carried out independent operations in the mountain range.
According to a report by the FAZ in August 2008, soldiers from the KSK of the German Armed Forces also took part in the fighting in the Battle of Tora Bora; these were mainly used for reconnaissance and isolation operations and for flank protection for operations by American and British special forces.
The last defensive positions were finally taken by the Allies on December 17th. Contrary to all expectations, they did not encounter any additional defense systems underground, but only smaller bunkers, outposts and training centers.
The search by US special forces for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders continued until January 2002. Around 200 fighters were killed by al-Qaida, but most of them managed to flee to neighboring Pakistan.
consequences
Military
After the battle ended, the US-led coalition consolidated its military influence in Afghanistan. However, the radical Islamic Taliban could only be driven out temporarily and soon after their defeat at Tora Bora began to regroup in the Shahi Kot Valley in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktia in order to establish a new base for future operations there.
The increasing number of insurgents in the Shahi Kot Valley motivated the USA to carry out Operation Anaconda from March 1 to 18, 2002, together with special forces from six other western states and the Afghan army that is currently being established . The outcome of this operation was assessed differently: while the American General Tommy Franks rated it “an undeniable and complete success” , the commander of the British Royal Marines criticized the operation as a whole against the US Department of Defense as a military failure.
Following Anaconda , Operation Jacana took place from April 16 to July 9, 2002. It consisted of the four sub-operations Ptarmigan , Snipe , Condor and Buzzard and was designed as a "clean-up" after Operation Anaconda. This operation was carried out by the Battalion 45 Commando of the Royal Marines, which was supported by parts of the US Special Forces , the Australian SAS and the Norwegian special unit Forsvarets Spesialkommando .
Politically
In 2002, the interim administration under Hamid Karzai in Kabul convened the Loja Jirga as a constituent assembly for the first time . This assembly consisted of 1,500 delegates who were either elected in the different parts of the country or sent as direct representatives of political, cultural and religious groups.
From December 14, 2003 to January 4, 2004, the Loja Jirga, which this time consisted of 502 delegates (including 114 women), met again under the leadership of Karzai and, in addition to the new constitution, also decided on the future form of Afghanistan as an Islamic Republic with a presidential system . Furthermore, she discussed questions such as For example, the introduction of Pashto and Dari as the official languages of Afghanistan, the rights of women, the honorary title Baba-e Melat ("Father of the Nation") for the former Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah and the introduction of a free market economy .
criticism
In the 2012 documentary The Hunt for Bin Laden by the British documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead , several military and security experts made serious allegations against the then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld : among other things, the strength of the US troops would not have been sufficient because of the additional effort had not been approved by parts of the US Army Rangers . Rumsfeld denied this and countered that these allegations were a lie.
References
literature
- Sean Maloney: Enduring the Freedom: A Rogue Historian in Afghanistan , o. O. 2005.
- Gerry Berntsen: Jawbreaker. The Attack on bin Laden and al-Qaeda , o. O. 2006. ISBN 0-307-35106-8
- Dalton Fury: Kill Bin Laden. A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man , o. O. 2008.
Web links
- The Long Hunt for Osama Peter Bergen , The Atlantic Monthly , October 2004
- Tora Bora ( October 10, 2004 memento on the Internet Archive ) John Bowman, CBC News Online , December 2001
- The Tora Bora Fortress Myth? , Edward Epstein, The Times , November 29, 2001
- Lost at Tora Bora , Mary Anne Weaver, The New York Times , September 11, 2005
- How bin Laden got away Phillip Smucker, The Christian Science Monitor , March 4, 2002
- A Nation Challenged Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, December 23, 2001
Individual evidence
- ↑ Map from Tora Bora , The Washington Post , December 10, 2001
- ^ The Daily Telegraph : Daisy-cutter deployed after bin Laden sighting , December 10, 2001 (accessed May 21, 2011)
- ↑ Elite fighters shrouded in mystery , Stephan Löwenstein, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 7, 2008
- ↑ Inside the Tora Bora Caves , Matthew Forney, Time , December 11, 2001