Narrow tracks cling to bleak, rocky slopes. Some lead to caves hidden away in crevices or under jagged overhangs. Others climb thousands of meters to obscure mountain passes. Routes used by smugglers for centuries could be Osama bin Laden's way out.
A former Afghan guerrilla commander who lived in mountain hide-outs for years while fighting Soviet invaders says there are many such places for bin Laden to shelter in.
Ghulam Mohammed also thinks it would be easy for the US' top terror suspect and his allies to hike over tortuous passes through the mountains and sneak into sympathetic areas of western Pakistan.
In an AP interview, Mohammed said the same caves that protected Afghan guerrillas from Soviet troops in the 1980s can shelter al-Qaeda fighters hiding from US commandos trying to crush the network blamed for the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The footpaths to these hide-outs weave treacherously through rock outcroppings, and anyone approaching is easily seen, he said.
Mohammed described conditions on Maroo Mountain, where he served during the Soviet war with Hezb-e-Islami, one of two guerrilla groups that had bases hiddenthere.
The mountain links Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar Province to Pakistan's remote Tirah Valley.
Nangarhar is no longer under control of bin Laden's Taliban allies, but his old friend Mullah Yunus Khalis still controls large areas in the province, where the terrorist mastermind owns a farm.
Security guards at the farm have said bin Laden was there just before the US bombing began Oct. 7. The guards said members of bin Laden's family left with other Arabs and were believed headed for the Tora-Bora camp.
They could head from there to the Tirah Valley, which is a perfect hiding place and an ideal transit point for an escape attempt.
Its residents have kept isolated for more than 1,000 years -- heavily armed tribesmen blocked attempts by Pakistani authorities in the last decade to build a road there.
During the Soviet war, the valley was a route for US-backed guerrillas to move weapons and supplies from Pakistan. The walk through the arid, rock-strewn valley still takes three full days.
The mountain pass from the valley into Afghanistan rises to nearly 3,000m and is a dangerous climb that only mules and people on foot can manage.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS