U.S. Strikes Back
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Tora Bora fighters may be crumbling
By CHRIS TOMLINSON
Associated Press Writer
12/15/01
TORA BORA, Afghanistan — The last pocket of al-Qaida resistance in Afghanistan appeared to be crumbling Saturday as groups of fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden were captured or fled and others debated over two-way radios whether to surrender.
The fighters, believed to number up to 1,000, have been under relentless attack for weeks by U.S. warplanes and tribal forces of the eastern alliance, aided by U.S. special forces in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan's Tora Bora region.
On radio frequencies of the eastern alliance, one fighter said 60 Chechens had fled, leaving behind six wounded and many dead. Of the wounded, he asked his commander, Hazrat Ali: "What do you want us to do with them?'' Ali said they should be held while he sent in reinforcements.
"Don't give them time! They're taking advantage of time,'' an eastern alliance commander said over the radio.
Top commander Haji Zahir said al-Qaida leaders told him they were ready to surrender, and were holding talks with the eastern alliance on how to do it in an orderly fashion. But after two surrender agreements fell through this week, Zahir remained skeptical.
"We won't accept conditions at all. We just want them to surrender. I told my forces to hold their positions, because I don't believe them,'' he said. "Our first and last condition is that they surrender.''
Some al-Qaida fighters could be heard debating a surrender over two-way radios. Alliance commander Mohammed Khan said a group of Arabs wanted to surrender but that a group of Chechen fighters was trying to persuade them not to do so.
Earlier, two emissaries approached the front line to announce 300 men wanted to give up, but the men never emerged, said fighter Said Mohammed Pawhalan.
While some al-Qaida fighters tried to surrender, others fled. Khan said three captured Arabs told him 50 al-Qaida leaders left on mules early Saturday bound for the Pakistani border, only a few miles away.
"They are commanders, but not the top commanders. They are escaping one by one or two by two,'' he said.
Pakistan has sent troops and helicopters to seal the border.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters en route to Central Asia, said a group of 50 al-Qaida fighters had surrendered, and that the rest were running out of escape routes. It was not clear whether they were the same group Khan mentioned.
Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. commander of the war, said he would not know until at least Saturday how many al-Qaida prisoners had been taken or whether any were senior leaders of bin Laden's terrorist network. He said they would be screened by U.S. forces.
A U.S. military official in southern Afghanistan said he expected up to 300 prisoners from the Tora Bora area, and that U.S. Marines were building a prisoner-of-war camp at Kandahar International Airport.
"A primary focus is to receive prisoners from Tora Bora and build a site for them,'' said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is our interest and the interest of the Western world to capture as many as possible.''
The Marines said they would transfer the bulk of their forces from Camp Rhino, a desert airstrip, to the airport, which they seized Friday in their largest mobilization in Afghanistan.
U.S. airstrikes continued around Tora Bora, including on mountain ridges where bombs had not previously fallen. That could indicate the Americans were attacking fleeing fighters.
Eastern alliance forces battled close to the mouth of a cave which hundreds of al-Qaida fighters were defending, and which Ali said was bin Laden's personal lair. Radio traffic indicated machine-gun fire was coming from the cave. B-52 bombers and fighter jets continued to pound the area.
"I don't know, but I think there is a place inside where Osama is,'' Ali said.
Twelve U.S. special forces fighting with the Afghans came under heavy fire from a machine-gun nest Friday, said an Afghan fighting with them, Khawri. Two Americans were grazed by bullets, but were well enough to walk down the mountain, he said. Franks had no information on American casualties but could not rule it out.
In addition to the al-Qaida near the cave, up to 600 others were believed to be cornered in an eight-square-mile forest nearby, just miles from the Pakistan border.
A large fire bomb fell on the forest Friday evening, sending up a huge and lingering fireball that was visible two miles away. U.S. bombers and AC-130 Spectre gunships circled over the ridge where the suspect cave was located, pounding defensive positions.
Pakistan's army set up 300 checkpoints along the border to block fleeing al-Qaida fighters.
"We have made it impossible for bin Laden to enter our country,'' said Pakistan Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider.
Pakistan has enhanced ground and aerial surveillance, including helicopter gunships. Troops on horses and mules have been seen moving to centuries-old caves to tighten the noose on fleeing fighters.
Although bin Laden was the focus of the fierce conflict at Tora Bora, some officials say he is more likely holed up in another part of Afghanistan, nearer Kandahar in the south, or may even have left the country.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press correspondent Christopher Torchia in Kandahar, Afghanistan contributed to this report.