My understanding is that the Bush Administration wanted to effectively outsource the majority of ground operations to the local Afghan army (or what existed of it at the time). Partially due to logistics at the time and also due to potential high casualties that could come from assaulting a fortified mountain position. If I recall correctly, initial Afghan operations were air support and special operations supporting the freedom fighters that had been fighting the Taliban for decades.
I seem to recall that there was also concern with the idea of moving large divisions of American military through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Pakistan Intelligence (ISI) supported the Taliban for years because it gave them a form of political control over Afghanistan, and there was large support for the Taliban in what Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (still is today). So there was an argument that moving highly visible and large American military divisions north through Pakistan for an invasion of Afghanistan could destabilize Pakistan, which is sometimes barely held together by its military.
However, in a mountainous regions like Tora Bora, even if we had multiple divisions of the U.S. military surrounding the mountain, there is still a decent chance that Osama could have escaped. Saddam Hussein slipped out of Baghdad post-invasion and eluded U.S. forces for months until someone decided to sell him out to the United States military.
Plus Tora Bora is split by the Af-Pak borders down the middle, and we all know where Bin Laden was killed and the amount of controversy his killing did and sending 5k troops would have been literally an invasion, and is above most combat helicopter safe flight ceiling (which is around 3000m where as Tora Bora is above 4000m) and the events took place in the beginning of winter when blizzards begin. It was a gamble and since Bin Laden was only the figurehead and not the entire organization the decision not to pursue was partly justified.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHr0wiobav4
The debate between Lessig and Greenwald, very cool and spirited. Thanks TYT for hosting this when ya did it and hosting now that it’s archived. Excellent Post Game!!!
Comments
My understanding is that the Bush Administration wanted to effectively outsource the majority of ground operations to the local Afghan army (or what existed of it at the time). Partially due to logistics at the time and also due to potential high casualties that could come from assaulting a fortified mountain position. If I recall correctly, initial Afghan operations were air support and special operations supporting the freedom fighters that had been fighting the Taliban for decades.
I seem to recall that there was also concern with the idea of moving large divisions of American military through Pakistan to Afghanistan. Pakistan Intelligence (ISI) supported the Taliban for years because it gave them a form of political control over Afghanistan, and there was large support for the Taliban in what Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (still is today). So there was an argument that moving highly visible and large American military divisions north through Pakistan for an invasion of Afghanistan could destabilize Pakistan, which is sometimes barely held together by its military.
However, in a mountainous regions like Tora Bora, even if we had multiple divisions of the U.S. military surrounding the mountain, there is still a decent chance that Osama could have escaped. Saddam Hussein slipped out of Baghdad post-invasion and eluded U.S. forces for months until someone decided to sell him out to the United States military.
The issue of Tora Bora was known from the beginning, what was not known was the decision not to go in:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1710748.stm
Plus Tora Bora is split by the Af-Pak borders down the middle, and we all know where Bin Laden was killed and the amount of controversy his killing did and sending 5k troops would have been literally an invasion, and is above most combat helicopter safe flight ceiling (which is around 3000m where as Tora Bora is above 4000m) and the events took place in the beginning of winter when blizzards begin. It was a gamble and since Bin Laden was only the figurehead and not the entire organization the decision not to pursue was partly justified.
Cenk!! Get that app for android!
John: A fine china family. Lots of John’s puns go unappreciated, I fear. He has some great ones,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHr0wiobav4
The debate between Lessig and Greenwald, very cool and spirited. Thanks TYT for hosting this when ya did it and hosting now that it’s archived. Excellent Post Game!!!
Where is the election coverage!?
Pleeaasse post the election coverage from last night!