Word: bins
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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With all that, the principal U.S. goal of snaring bin Laden in Tora Bora was shrouded in a fog of conflicting reports about whether he was even there. A brother of Hazrat Ali, one of the warlords chasing bin Laden in Tora Bora, said Friday that "one of our soldiers saw Osama yesterday," riding on horseback with four bodyguards after visiting his troops. Yet Ali's brother-in-law says, "We don't have any confirmed information about Osama, but his son is still in the caves...
...campaign has lurched toward an endgame, the limits of the strategy have become glaring. The absence of a sizable American battle force on the ground has left the U.S. unable to dictate the terms of surrender, making it easier for Omar to go on the lam and perhaps emboldening bin Laden in his game of hide-and-seek. "You get what you pay for," says an Army officer. "When you fight a ground war on the cheap, you can't always get what you want...
...dilemma for the Pentagon is that until it beefs up the 2,000-strong American ground force and authorizes it to take control of the manhunt, the U.S. military can only cajole the Afghan forces to do what it wants. In eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. has plied one bin Laden hunter, Haji Zaman, with $100 for each of his soldiers. The $25 million bounty promised to the warlord who captures bin Laden has created a dash for the Saudi's throat between Zaman and two rival commanders, Hazrat Ali and Haji Qadir. U.S. officials treated claims of bin Laden sightings...
None of the three warlords appears strong enough to capture bin Laden on his own. Zaman made his name as a mujahedin commander fighting the Soviets, then fled to Dijon, France, when the Taliban took Jalalabad in 1997. Ali's soldiers are the most hardened fighters in the gang chasing bin Laden. But Ali, who is not a Pashtun, commands little support among mountain villagers. Qadir marshals the weakest militia but controls a former Taliban ammunition compound chock full of rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and tank shells...
...British commandos heading into the Tora Bora mountains last week, traveling in pairs, shouldering heavy supplies and carrying rifles. There were more soldiers on the way, backed by U.S. gunships, bombers and Predator drones, ready to pounce on their prey. It's a safe bet that if bin Laden is holed up in the snowdrifts of Tora Bora, with his hosts defeated and on the run, he still harbors hopes of making a great escape. It's a safer bet that the U.S. would love...