View source for Tora Bora

{{Short description|Cave complex in eastern Afghanistan}}
{{Distinguish|Bora Bora|Tora Tora|Tora! Tora! Tora!|Toradora!}}

{{Infobox cave
| name =Tora Bora 
| photo = Tora bora.jpg
| photo_caption = 
| map = Afghanistan
| relief = 1
| location = [[Safed Koh]] mountain range, Afghanistan
| depth = 
| length = 
| coords = {{coord|34.117|N|70.217|E|display=inline,title}}
| coords_ref = 
| survey = 
| survey_format = 
| discovery = 
| geology = Metamorphic [[gneiss]] and [[schist]]
| entrance_count =
| entrance_list =
| difficulty = 
| hazards = 
| access = 
}}
[[File:Kabul, Peshawar, and some cities in Nangarhar, Afghanistan 6.png|thumb|250px|Tora Bora's location in relation to [[Jalalabad]] and other cities in the provinces of Nangarhar, [[Kabul]] and [[Peshawar]]]]
'''Tora Bora''' ({{langx|ps|توره بوړه}}, "Black Cave") is a [[cave]] complex, part of the [[Spin Ghar|Spin Ghar (White Mountains)]] mountain range of eastern [[Afghanistan]]. It is situated in the [[Pachir Aw Agam District]] of [[Nangarhar Province|Nangarhar]], approximately {{convert|50|km|mi|abbr=off|-1}} west of the [[Khyber Pass]] and {{convert|10|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} north of the border of the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] province in [[Pakistan]]. Tora Bora and the surrounding Spin Ghar range had natural caverns formed by streams eating into the [[limestone]],<ref name="hadden">{{cite book |author=Lee Hadden |first=Robert |title=Adits, Caves, Karizi-Qanats, and Tunnels in Afghanistan: An Annotated Bibliography |year=2005}}</ref> that had later been expanded into a CIA-financed complex built for the [[Afghan mujahideen]].<ref>M.A. Weaver – [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/lost-at-tora-bora.html?_r=0 report] published September 11, 2005 by the [[New York Times Magazine]] [Retrieved 2015-11-14]</ref> Tora Bora was known to be a stronghold location of the [[Afghan mujahideen]], used by military forces against the [[Soviet Union]] during the 1980s.

==Geology==
The geology of Tora Bora is predominantly metamorphic [[gneiss]] and [[schist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bahmanyar |first=M. |title=Afghanistan Cave Complexes 1979–2004 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2012 |isbn=978-1780966298 |pages=64}}</ref>

==History==

===Military base===
In October and November 1980, during Operation "Shkval", this complex was taken by the "Kaskad" special forces unit of the USSR KGB, together with the 66th motorized rifle brigade of the 40th Army of the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. As Colonel [[Valentin Gerasimenko]] wrote about the first assault, “By that time, Tora Bora was still a little-known, but already covered with a veil of mystery, the base of the Dushmans. Only later will it surpass the [[Panjshir Valley]] in its glory and fame, in the number of assaults and destruction”.

June 18–19, 1981 - in the province of Nangarhar, 85&nbsp;km south of Jalalabad, in the area of the Afghan-Pakistani border, units of the Soviet 66th motorized rifle brigade and part of the Afghan 11th Jalalabad infantry division take the fortified area of the Mujahideen Tora Bora.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

July 22–29, 1983 - operation in Tora-Bora of the 66th motorized rifle brigade.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

The base at Tora Bora was developed as a CIA-financed complex built for the Mujahideen following the 1979 [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]],<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/magazine/lost-at-tora-bora.html | title=Lost at Tora Bora| newspaper=The New York Times| date=2005-09-11| last1=Weaver| first1=Mary Anne}}</ref> and has been described by the western media as an "impregnable cave fortress" housing 2,000 men complete with a hospital, a hydroelectric power plant, offices, a hotel, arms and ammunition stores, roads large enough to drive a [[tank]] into, and sophisticated tunnel and ventilation systems.<ref name="plans">{{citation|author=Steve Rose|title=Hunt for bin Laden - Tora Bora|url=https://www.theguardian.com/flash/0,5860,616624,00.html|work =The Guardian|access-date=September 8, 2011}}.</ref>

[[File:Strikes on Tora Bora.png|thumb|250px|US airstrike during the battle of Tora Bora]]
During the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]], the cave complex was one of the strongholds of the [[Taliban]] and [[Al-Qaeda]], according to [[United States Secretary of Defense]] [[Donald Rumsfeld]].<ref name="rumsfeld">[[Donald Rumsfeld]], ''[[Known and Unknown: A Memoir]]'', Sentinel, 2011, p. 401</ref>  It was the location of the December 2001 [[Battle of Tora Bora]], and suspected hideout of Al-Qaeda leader [[Osama bin Laden]] which led his escape into neighboring [[Pakistan]] in January 2002. Bin Laden and his family moved to a new [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|compound]] in the village of [[Chak Shah Muhammad]], a wealthy suburb of [[Bilal Town]] near [[Abbottabad]] on 6 January 2006.<ref name="rumsfeld" /> It was reported that in 2007, U.S. intelligence suspected bin Laden planned to meet with top Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders at Tora Bora prior to the launch of a possible attack on Europe or the United States.<ref name="nytimes">{{citation|author=Eric Schmitt & Thom Shanker|title=Long Pursuit of Bin Laden, the '07 Raid, and Frustration|date=May 5, 2011|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/asia/06binladen.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 8, 2011}}.</ref>

Both the British and American press published detailed plans of the base.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/flash/0,5860,616624,00.html Tora Bora: Al-Qaida's last stronghold], ''The Guardian'', 20 December 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Floorplan of Bin Laden's mountain fortress |url=http://truthseekers.cultureunplugged.com/.a/6a011279022a6e28a4017ee83b86d8970d-pi |website=truthseekers.cultureunplugged.com |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080002/http://truthseekers.cultureunplugged.com/.a/6a011279022a6e28a4017ee83b86d8970d-pi |url-status=dead }} </ref> When shown a plan during an [[NBC]] interview, Rumsfeld said, "This is serious business; there's not one of those, there are many of those".<ref name="fear">{{cite video|people=Adam Curtis (Director)|date=October 20 – November 3, 2004|title=The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear|medium=TV documentary|publisher=BBC Two|access-date=September 8, 2011|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/3755686.stm}}</ref><ref name="drab">{{cite news |author=Rose |first=Steve |date=May 4, 2011 |title=did Osama bin Laden build such a drab HQ? |newspaper=Guardian}}</ref><ref name="epstein"/>
[[File:ToraBora-TF.jpg|thumb|left|Aerial view, 3D computer generated image. Tora Bora is in the upper-right quadrant.]]
An elaborate military operation was planned which included deployment of the CIA-US Special Operations Forces team with [[AN/PEQ-1 SOFLAM|laser markers]] to guide non-stop heavy air strikes during 72 hours.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/cia-museum/experience-the-collection/index.html#!/artifact/52 |title=The CIA Museum |access-date=2014-04-23 |archive-date=2021-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103225026/https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/cia-museum/experience-the-collection/index.html#!/artifact/52 |url-status=dead }} </ref> When Tora Bora was eventually captured by the U.S. and Afghan troops, no traces of the supposed "fortress" were found despite painstaking searches in the surrounding areas. Tora Bora turned out to be a system of small natural caves housing, at most, 200 fighters. While arms and ammunition stores were found, there were no traces of the advanced facilities claimed to exist.<ref name="epstein">{{citation|author=Edward Jay Epstein|title=Lair of bin Laden|date=December 11, 2001|url=https://www.edwardjayepstein.com/nether_fictoid3.htm|access-date=September 8, 2011}}.</ref><ref name="forney">{{cite magazine |title=The Tora Bora Caves |author=Matthew Forney |magazine=Time |date=December 11, 2001}}.</ref>

In a 2002 interview with by [[PBS]]'s ''[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]]'', a Staff Sergeant from the [[Special Forces (United States Army)|U.S. Special Forces]] Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 572 described the caves:<ref name="pbs"/>

{{quote|Again, with the caves, they weren't these crazy mazes or labyrinths of caves that they described. Most of them were natural caves. Some were supported with some pieces of wood maybe about the size of a 10-foot by 24-foot room, at the largest. They weren't real big. I know they made a spectacle out of that, and how are we going to be able to get into them? We worried about that too, because we see all these reports. Then it turns out, when you actually go up there, there's really just small [[bunker]]s, and a lot of different ammo storage is up there. – Jeff, Staff Sgt. ODA 572<ref name="pbs">{{citation |title=Against Terror: Interview: U.S. Special Forces ODA 572 |publisher=PBS|work=[[Frontline (American TV program)|Frontline]] |date=July 9, 2002}}</ref>}}

The complex later was retaken by the Taliban, and served as an important base for the [[Taliban insurgency]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Iaccino |first=Ludovica |date=15 June 1017 |title=Isis unable to stay in Osama Bin Laden's Tora Bora fortress for long |url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-unable-stay-osama-bin-ladens-tora-bora-fortress-long-1626369 |access-date=20 June 2017 |work=[[International Business Times]]}}</ref> In 2017, Tora Bora was [[Battle of Tora Bora (2017)|attacked and captured]] by the [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province]] (ISIL-K),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/14/world/asia/isis-captures-tora-bora-afghanistan.html|title=ISIS Captures Tora Bora, Once Bin Laden's Afghan Fortress|last1=Nordland|first1=Rod|last2=Abed|first2=Fahim|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 June 2017|access-date=16 June 2017}}</ref> though the [[Afghan National Army]] soon recaptured it.<ref>{{cite web |date=17 June 2017 |title=Afghan Official: Afghan Security Forces Recaptured Tora Bora |url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/06/17/world/asia/ap-as-afghanistan.html |access-date=20 June 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]] |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/afghan-official-afghan-security-forces-recaptured-tora-bora|title=Afghan Official: Afghan security forces recaptured Tora Bora|work=Fox News|date=17 June 2017}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Afghanistan|Paleontology|Asia|History}}

* [[Qanat#Afghanistan|Qanat]]
* [[Zhawar]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/11469138/Inside-Osama-bin-Ladens-al-Qaeda-Tora-Bora-lair-in-Afghanistan-in-pictures.html Photo Gallery]  – ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]''
* [https://nypost.com/2015/03/13/photos-reveal-bin-ladens-life-at-tora-bora-compound/ Article on photographs] – ''[[New York Post]]''

{{War on Terror|state=collapsed}}

{{Nangarhar Province}}

[[Category:Caves of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Caves used for hiding]]
[[Category:Landforms of Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Landforms of Nangarhar Province]]