Word: tora
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American commanders were determined to stop them. With control of the country wrested from the Taliban, the full wrath of American military power turned toward the sprawling Tora Bora fortress in the eastern ridges of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda fighters still huddling inside their caves have little chance of getting out alive. For the first time last week, forces loyal to three U.S.-backed bounty hunters clambered into the mountains to stage assaults on al-Qaeda redoubts, while as many as 40 U.S. commandos called in B-52-delivered bombs and precision-guided missiles...
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...
...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 in Tora Bora with skepticism, knowing that the warlords are angling to procure more funds for the hunt. The commander who finds bin Laden could also win control of Jalalabad and the smuggling route through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan...
With the competing loyalties of the men venturing into Tora Bora, the cave assault has been halting. The first team of soldiers dispatched by Ali to Tora Bora disarmed groups of Zaman loyalists opposed to al-Qaeda. Another group of Zaman's forces tried to set up a base in the town of Pachir, within sight of Tora Bora; the next night a U.S. warplane struck the building, killing everyone inside. The commanders greeted reports of limited advances in the mountains with tempered enthusiasm, mindful of the difficulty of penetrating such a labyrinthine redoubt...
Though the American commanders still counseled patience last week, they will not put up with inaction for long. Afghan forces told TIME they spotted U.S. and 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...