Trapped in Tora Bora in 2001,Osama had written his will

The 49-page report “Tora Bora Revisited: How we failed to get Bin Laden and Why it Matters Today”,prepared by the staff of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and released today,points finger at then Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his top military commander Tommy Franks for turning down requests for reinforcements to pursue Laden.

Laden,trapped in the rugged mountainous area in eastern Afghanistan,expected to die and had even written a will,said the report,commissioned by Committee Chairman John Kerry.

“On or around December 16,two days after writing his will,bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan’s unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say he is still there today,” the report said.

“Fewer than 100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected. Requests were also turned down for US troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan,” it said.

The vast array of US military power,from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of Marine Corps and the Army,was kept on the sidelines,the report said adding that instead,the US command chose to rely on airstrikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack bin Laden and on Pakistan’s loosely organised Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes.

The decision not to deploy American forces to go after bin Laden or block his escape was made by Rumsfeld and Franks,“the architects of the unconventional Afghan battle plan known as Operation Enduring Freedom,” the report said.

It said there were enough US troops in or near Afghanistan to execute the classic sweep-and-block manoeuvre required to attack Laden and try to prevent his escape.

At the time,Rumsfeld argued that a large US troop presence might fuel a backlash from the local people.

“Our inability to finish the job in late 2001 has contributed to a conflict today that endangers not just our troops and those of our allies,but stability of a volatile and vital region,” Kerry said in his transmittal letter.

The report said the escape of Laden was a lost opportunity that altered the course of the war and paved the way for insurgencies in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. “Removing the al-Qaeda leader from the battlefield eight years ago would not have eliminated the worldwide extremist threat,” it said.

“But the decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide,” said the report.