From Dallas Express · Dallas Express · · 1m 20s
The 800 Rangers That Never Came to Tora Bora
A CIA officer who ran the hunt for bin Laden says he asked for the troops to seal the mountain, and was told no.
In brief
A CIA officer who ran the hunt for bin Laden says he asked for the troops to seal the mountain, and was told no. Bin Laden slipped out of Tora Bora because fewer than 100 American commandos were there and the request for hundreds more was turned down. Originally reported by Dallas Express.
Twenty-five years on
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, former CIA officer Gary Berntsen sat down with Lara Logan to go back through the opening weeks of the Afghanistan war.
Jawbreaker goes in
Berntsen commanded a CIA Jawbreaker team, the code name for units sent into Afghanistan to back anti-Taliban fighters, hit al Qaeda and chase bin Laden.
The ask at Tora Bora
With bin Laden cornered in the mountains, Berntsen wanted American troops placed on the escape routes. He did not get them.
“I asked for 800 rangers. I begged them for 800 rangers, and they wouldn't give them to me.”
Fewer than 100 men
A 2009 Senate report cited that request and found fewer than 100 American commandos were at Tora Bora, with reinforcements and blocking troops denied.
The road into Pakistan
The same report said officials turned down requests to block the escape routes running into Pakistan, the exact gap Berntsen was trying to close.
His verdict on 2021
Berntsen and Logan also cover Pakistan's role and missed chances to kill bin Laden before 9/11. On the 2021 withdrawal, he is blunt.
“the single greatest military failure in American history”
The big picture
Bin Laden slipped out of Tora Bora because fewer than 100 American commandos were there and the request for hundreds more was turned down.
