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Intelligence Blunders Blamed
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
AFP

In Jalalabad, the Afghan warlords enlisted by the US to attack Tora Bora were also cutting deals to help the Al-Qaeda fighters make their escape.

Scant intelligence, poorly chosen allies and dubious military tactics caused US-led forces in Afghanistan to squander its best chance to capture Osama bin Laden and his top Al-Qaeda command, the Christian Science Monitor newspaper reported yesterday.

In an exhaustive account based on interviews with participants at the scene, the Boston-based daily described how bin Laden eluded US-led forces in Afghanistan.

The paper detailed a bin Laden escape route from Jalalabad to a favoured fortified redoubt in Tora Bora, in hasty departure in a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles.
(More: The Sunday Times News Source)
2002 FRANCE-PRESSE © AFP.

Dan