Category: Afghanistan

The operation was practised on one to one replicas of the compound by an elite squad of Seal Team Six operatives which were built in Nevada and Virginia. On April 28th, the operatives arrived in Jalalabad and awaited instructions.

That night, Obama was restless. If the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden were faulty or if the Pakistani government discovered the operation, it could set back him being tracked down by months or perhaps even years. On the other hand, if it was a success, the most wanted man in the world would be brought to justice. On May 1st, Obama decided what to do.

Operation Neptune Spear began at around 11 pm local time, with 2 black hawk helicopters, which were modified to make less sound, approaching the compound in Abbottabad. Aboard the helicopters were the 23 SEALS, a translator and a dog named Cairo, who was there to look for hidden rooms and check for incoming Pakistani militant forces. 2 chinooks, carrying a spare 25 SEALS, were stationed at the ready incase of a hostile reaction from the Pakistani military.

The first helicopter was supposed to hover above the yard, letting the SEALS slide down a rope onto the lawn. However, due to weather conditions, the helicopter crashed inside the lawn. No-one was injured but they had lost the element of surprise. The SEALS from helicopter 1 breached the gates and moved through the compound whilst a group from helicopter 2, which touched down safely just outside the compound, were deterring neighbouring villagers.

3 SEALS from helicopter 1 split off to deal with the guest house whilst the SEALS not tasked with crowd control from helicopter 2 breached from the north. Those who went to deal with the guest house encountered Ahmed, to whom they engaged in a small firefight, resulting in the death of Ahmed. Meanwhile, the other SEALS managed to breach the main building, killing Ahmed’s brother and his brother’s wife.

After the stairway was breached, bin Laden’s 23-year-old son, Khalid bin Laden was killed in the stairwell. On the third floor, they discovered a tall thin man, peering out from behind the doorway of a bedroom. The SEALS took fire but either missed or landed non-lethal shots. One of the women in the room made a motion as if to charge at the lead SEAL but was shot in the leg. Robert O’Neill charged past the leader and spotted the man behind a woman, with his hands on her shoulders. As he went to push her, O’Neill shot the man twice in the head and once more as he crumpled to the floor.

Over the radio, the White house staff heard “For God and country. Geronimo. Geronimo. Geronimo.” That was the code word for an enemy killed in action. The most hated man in the USA, the most wanted man on the planet, the architect behind the deaths of 3,000 innocent American lives was finally dead.

There were no casualties on the American side with only 5 dead inside the compound. The assault was completed in only 15 minutes, with the rest of the time spent collecting hard drives whilst a demolition team destroyed any evidence of the helicopter crash. One of the chinooks helped the SEALS home as well as carrying the corpse of bin Laden, to a safehouse where his identity was officially confirmed.

For three months after 9/11, new leads evaded the CIA and all the leads that they previously had went cold. This was even more troublesome for them when you consider that they very nearly looked evil in the eye. Towards the tail end of the Afghan Invasion, a battle was staged at Tora Bora. Afghan troops embedded themselves in the mountains of Tora Bora, with the possible objective of keeping Bin Laden safe. Whilst the battle raged on, it is believed that Bin Laden slipped into the neighbouring nation of Pakistan. Only 20 captives were detained and for a long time, none of them gave anything away. Until one of them did.

Previously off the FBI’s radar, Muhammad al-Qahtani denied any involvement in Al-Qaeda and the attacks on September 11th, saying that he was in Afghanistan to pursue his interests in falconry. However, once he was fingerprinted, the investigators realised that they already had a record of him.

On August 4th 2001, a little over 5 weeks before the attacks, al-Qahtani attempted to enter the United States at Orlando Airport. With $2,800 in cash and a one way ticket from Dubai to Orlando on him, the officer at customs denied him entry to the US, suspecting him of being an illegal immigrant. Furthermore, a call was made from Orlando Airport on that day to a number that investigators knew was connected to Al-Qaeda in the UAE. After scanning through hours upon hours of security footage of the airport in search of another lead, they discovered a rental car. A rental car which was currently being hired by Mohamed Atta, the ringleader behind the attacks and the main pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre. Investigators believed that Atta had arrived to pick up al-Qahtani, believing al-Qahtani to possibly be one of the hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93, being the rumoured 20th hijacker. Al-Qahtani was among many Al-Qaeda informants who managed to give investigators a lead on the whereabouts of Bin Laden.

Another one of these informants was Abu Zubaydah, who was arrested in a US-Pakistani raid on Faisalabad safehouses in Pakistan in March 2002. He was interrogated until he ratted out Khalid Sheikh-Mohammed, Al-Qaeda’s operational commander, who had been the planner behind the attacks on America. Furthermore, Qahtani revealed that Khalid had introduced him to a man in July 2001. This man’s name was Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

Even with all this information being revealed, they were no closer to finding bin Laden. The man’s name was obviously a pseudonym, being a direct translation to “The Father of Ahmed from Kuwaiti”. However, they knew bin Laden could still communicate. Tapes would come through and investigators believed that bin Laden could have possible contact with more minor leaders inside Al-Qaeda The investigators decided to look through bin Laden’s courier network, the people who transmitted letters and documents to and from bin Laden, in a vain attempt to try and find where he was hiding. It would be a long time before any results came in.

Forces from Kurdistan apprehended a man called Hassan Ghul in January 2004. Ghul was carrying a letter addressed solely to Osama bin Laden. He was later handed over to the Americans, who claimed that the man behind the name of al-Kuwaiti operated as a personal courier to bin Laden. However, conflicting information emerged. While Ghul claimed that al-Kuwaiti had a much higher role in the chain of Al-Qaeda’s command, with him being on friendly terms with Khalid and his successor, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, Khalid and al-Libbi vehemently denied these claims, with Khalid claiming that al-Kuwaiti had retired and was long since inactive. When investigations expanded, a man named Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, came forward. Hamabli was the leader of an affiliate group of Al-Qaeda from South-East Asia. He claimed that Kuwaiti played a key role, with him saying that al-Kuwaiti managed a safehouse in Karachi during the Taliban fleeing from Afghanistan. This conflicting information about al-Kuwaiti only made him a higher priority for investigators, making them believe that he must be in a higher position inside Al-Qaeda.

While much of the information acquired from these prisoners was vital in the capture of bin Laden, it was obtained through questionable methods in the US’ interrogation area called Guantanamo Bay. Many prisoners were subjected to various torture methods, including, but not limited to water boarding, sleep deprivation and forced nudity. Zubaydah drew and described his torture in graphic detail.

Among the images [published, one of them shows] masked agents physically threatening Zubaydah with anal rape. […] In another image, Zubaydah draws himself chained in the nude in front of a female interrogator. A further drawing shows guards threatening to desecrate the Qur’an – techniques which were never officially approved by the justice department.

Ed Pilkington of The Guardian “‘The forever prisoner’: Abu Zubaydah’s drawings expose the US’s depraved torture policy”

Mark Denbeaux, Zubaydah’s lawyer had Zubaydah draw these pictures. He stated that:

He was the first person to be tortured, having been approved by the Department of Justice based on facts that the CIA knew to be false. His drawings are the ultimate repudiation of the failure and abuses of torture.

Denbeaux speaking on Zubaydah

These were called “enhanced interrogation techniques” by CIA officials. A 712 page long fraction of 6,700 long Committee report claims that not only were these torture techniques not effective in capturing Osama bin Laden but also damaged the standing of the United States in the world of foreign politics.

Eventually, in 2007, the CIA finally attached a real name to al-Kuwaiti through an unknown foreign intelligence service. His real name was Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed, a Pakistani who lived in Kuwait for most of his childhood. It would not be until 2010 when they could finally track him down. Through phone calls, they were able to track Ahmed to Peshawar in northern Pakistan, where he was tailed by a Pakistani operative for the CIA back to his home. When they reached Ahmed’s home, the investigator’s were surprised.

What they found was a large mansion encased inside walls that were 10-18 feet high. These walls were topped with barbed wire and were sparsely populated by 4 gates littered around the compound border. If this was where Ahmed was living, investigators thought, then bin Laden could possibly be here also. Upon investigation of the compound, they found that only 3 people would go outside the mansion inside the compound, Ahmed, his brother and a mysterious figure who regularly walked around the interior courtyard on a daily basis. This figure was tall, thin, wore a pashtun dress and a prayer cap. When photos were captured, they were not very clear. This mysterious figure was nicknamed Pacer.

Whether Pacer was bin Laden or not, Barack Obama knew he needed to act sooner rather than later. Many options were considered. Assaulting bin Laden with the assistance of the Pakistani Government was entirely out of the question. Pakistan had previously favoured the Taliban in their escape from Afghanistan and had previously harboured many other members of Al-Qaeda. Bombing raids were favoured by the majority of the President’s advisors but Obama was concerned about civilian casualties and the difficulty of confirming whether they had eliminated bin Laden so ruled that out. Eventually, they settled on an aerial to ground assault, in which bin Laden was either captured or killed and the Pakistani Government would not be notified. This would be extra risky, considering that the compound is only 3 and a half kilometres away, or 2 miles away, from a Pakistani Military Academy.

I would like to touch on one important point in this address. The actions by these young men who destroyed the United States and launched the storm of planes against it have done a good deed. They transferred the battle into the US heartland. Let the United States know that with God’s permission, the battle will continue to be waged on its territory until it leaves our lands, stops its support for the Jews, and lifts the unjust embargo on the Iraqi people who have lost more than one million children. The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God’s permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation’s youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live.

Sulaiman Abu Gaith claiming responsibility for 9/11 on behalf of Al-Qaeda in a video on Al Jazeera, 2001

Not even one hour after American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Centre, CIA officials confirmed to George W. Bush, then President of the United States that Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, were behind the attacks on September 11th. Whilst bin Laden initially denied these claims, Al-Qaeda spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith came forward in a video, where he claimed that the organisation was responsible for 9/11. A tape was later found by the CIA, where bin Laden also claimed responsibility for the attacks.

America initially took a diplomatic approach. Knowing that bin Laden was somewhere in Afghanistan, they met with Taliban commanders, who were currently in charge of the country, to negotiate the handover of bin Laden. However, while this was going on, Bush made a radical choice. In front of congress, Bush issued an ultimatum.

[T]he United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban. Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al Qaeda who hide in your land. Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned.  Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country.  Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities. Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.  

These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately.  They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.

Bush’s ultimatum, September 20th, 2001

Whilst a bold demand, it was strongly backed by congress, who gave the go ahead to use “all necessary and appropriate force” to capture bin Laden and arrest any supporters of him or Al-Qaeda. Negotiations quickly broke down as the Taliban refused Bush’s ultimatum, denying the attacks were committed by bin Laden and citing the Oath of Allegiance bin Laden made to the leader of the Taliban as a reason not to surrender him.

On October 7th, 2001, bombing raids began in major Afghan cities. After ground invasions beginning from multiple areas, the Taliban was swiftly toppled and forced into hiding by mid-2002. Al-Qaeda was practically dismantled other than the underground insurgent groups, whilst bin Laden escaped into Pakistan during the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. It would be a long hunt until they found him once again.

Once the occupation began, two new tasks fell upon the Americans and the other coalition forces that invaded, to reconstruct a new new government in a war torn nation whilst also countering terrorism. After the death of bin Laden in May 2011, Barack Obama increased drone operations in warfare, leading to mass airstrikes which sometimes ended up targeting civilians. Most notably was the airstrike on Kunduz Hospital in Afghanistan, which killed 15 innocent civilians.

Due to these mass airstrikes, the occupying Americans began to slowly be despised by the Afghan population, leading to the Taliban making a comeback. They would organise terrorist attacks in the country, that would end up killing hundreds of innocent people and coalition soldiers. US Soldiers began training the Afghan army to combat the terrorists once they left and equipped them with American Weapons. Eventually, the occupation of Afghanistan ended up lasting 20 years.

Soon, Donald Trump, business entrepreneur turned POTUS, thought that Obama was too methodical with ISIS and wanted to take decisive action in Afghanistan. Trump wanted to crush terrorism whilst focusing resources into “Making America Great Again” instead of on the war. From 2018 to 2020, multiple ceasefire deals were proposed but ultimately shot down by the Taliban. However, a peace deal was signed in February 2020. Trump would not see the withdrawal of troops during his presidency however, due to his defeat in 2020 to Joe Biden.

Due to the coronavirus, many believed that the US should focus more resources on tackling the pandemic and the economic downturn caused by that, rather than focusing resources on a conflict that had lasted over two decades, making it the longest conflict in US history. In an attempt to honour the deal set up by his predecessor, Biden went ahead with the withdrawal. This announcement gave the Taliban an opportunity to take back control, advancing on Kabul, forcing many Afghan soldiers to surrender themselves to the Taliban, before the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was eventually toppled.

In one of the largest airlifts in history, 122,000 people were airlifted from Kabul airport. American soldiers managed to fend off the Taliban for over 2 weeks as the Taliban captured Kabul. The last US plane left on August 30th, with the Taliban capturing the airport the next day and declaring a victory. The War in Afghanistan is considered by many to not only be a somewhat pointless war but its ending is considered to be one of the greatest military catastrophes in history. As of today, the Taliban still run the country, and are not recognised by any nation as a legitimate government, with only 11 countries supporting the Taliban government.

Casualties

• Afghan Security Forces – 66,000-69,000
• Coalition – 3,579
• Taliban – 52,893
• Civilians – 70,000

On August 6th 2001, George W Bush, former President of the United States, received his daily brief. This day’s brief was titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”. This report which was declassified in 2004 tells of a man called Osama bin Laden, who had been planning an attack on the USA since the late 1990s. The majority of the brief details previous attempts by Bin Laden to attack the United States. However, the ending of the report stated that since 1999, the FBI had been conducting investigations, reporting that Bin Laden was “[indicating] patterns of suspicious activity in this country, consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.” After having read this, Bush chose to brush it off and do nothing about it.

Tuesday, September 11^th, 2001, 0800 hours. It is a cloudless day. At Logan International Airport in Boston, USA, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175 are having their passengers board. The American Airlines Flight is a Boeing 767-223ER and the United Airlines flight is a Boeing 767-222. The American Airlines Flight had 97 passengers onboard, little do they know that 5 of them are Al-Qaeda hijackers, one of which is one of the main leaders of the attacks called Mohamed Atta. While Flight 11 is taking off, United 175 has been delayed by fourteen minutes, which contains 65 passengers and 5 hijackers. At 8:14, it takes off. At the same time, United Airlines Flight 93 is being boarded at Newark Airport in New Jersey. Meanwhile, at Dulles Airport in Washington, American Airlines Flight 77 is also boarding. The aforementioned United 93 is delayed by 40 minutes, the most important 40 minutes in human history. Flight 77 is delayed by 20 minutes and took off at 8:20. As you guessed, all these planes were meant to take off at 8:00, and that was the terrorists plan the whole time. 0819 hours, Betty Ong, a flight attendant, contacts ground control and says “The cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class an I think there’s Mace, that we can’t breathe. I don’t know, I think we’re getting hijacked.”

5 minutes later they seem to accidentally receive a call from Mohammed Atta. 0833 hours, another announcement from Mohammed Atta plays, saying that they are “going back to the airport.”:

As most of you very well know, this was not the case. Over the state of New York, the plane turns around, with a target of New York City.

In New York City, in New Jersey, the Naudet Brothers are practicing their camera skills. While they are filming a drain with a firefighter, they hear a plane fly overhead. This is uncommon in Manhattan, so they decide to follow the track of the plane with the camera and the plane hits. This became some of the most famous footage associated with the attacks

A few seconds before impact, flight attendant, Amy Sweeny, says: “We are in rapid descent…we are all over the place. Oh, my God, we are too low!” 0846 hours, Flight 11 strikes the North Tower of the World Trade Centre on the 93^rd to 99^th floor. Smoke clogs the air as United 93 passengers received the news. A world-wide panic ensues. Everyone across the globe are in shock. Every TV in the world are showing the events at the World Trade Centre unfold, and 15 minutes later the second one hit.

Flight 175 was hijacked at around the same time that Flight 11 hit the North Tower. It had a near collision with Delta Airlines Flight 2315, having to roll on its side and missed the aircraft by 300 ft, or 90 m. 0903 hours, United 175 hit the south tower, having turned around over New Jersey. It crashes into the 77^th and 85^th floor. This is broadcast on live TV across the planet. All elevators in both buildings were taken out, so anyone in elevators could not escape. This concept is explored in the not very well received, 2017 movie, 9/11, with 4 people trapped in a north tower elevator. The heat of the blaze begins to weaken the infrastructure of the building. After this, The White house engage an evacuation. During this evacuation, another plane attacks, but instead of hitting another part of the World Trade Centre it attacks the military HQ of the United States in Washington DC in Virginia, The Pentagon. 0937 hours, Flight 77 crashed into the west side of the Pentagon, killing all 64 passengers and 5 hijackers on board. It turned around over the Ohio and Kentucky border and also ground control lost contact with the aircraft around about there as well. This attack had a total of around 189 deaths. No audio recordings were found of this hijacking but there is security camera footage of the plane striking the Pentagon.

0850 hours, the United 93’s passengers were informed of the news about the Twin Towers and about 30 minutes later, the plane is Hijacked. Panic ensues as call after call is made from and to 93. The four hijackers take the 44 passengers and flight crew by storm and take over the aircraft and turn it around over Ohio towards Washington DC. So far, all the planes have attacked a symbol of the greatness and power of America, so the intended target could’ve been either the White House or the Capitol building. An audio clip shows that the passengers were genuinely frightened for in the background you can hear someone say, “We’re all going to die in here!” 0928 hours, there is an attempt to make contact with the crew of 93 but all they receive are announcements from the leader of this hijack, Ziad Jarrah. 0939 hours, pregnant passenger, Lauren Grandcolas, informs her husband, Jack, that “there’s just a little problem with the plane.” Later, another female passenger, CeeCee Lyles called her husband to tell her that she loves him very much. 0957 hours, Todd Beamer makes a request to Airplane Supervisor, Lisa Jefferson.

“Would you do one last thing for me?”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Would you pray with me?”

The passengers then recited the Lord’s Prayer together. At the end of this improvised sermon on the plane, Beamer concluded with this verse from Psalms 23

“Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For thou art with me”

The verse that Beamer recited on United 93, Psalms 23:4

Then Beamer tells the other passengers and crew members “Are you guys ready? OK, let’s roll.”

The plane starts moving around violently as Jarrah says, “Is there something? A fight?” CeeCee called her husband saying that the passengers are forcing their way into the cockpit of the aircraft. Jarrah turns the plane from side to side to knock the passengers off balance as he tells another hijacker, “They want to get in here. Hold, hold from the inside. Hold from the inside. Hold.” He then jerks the plane up and down 2 minutes into the assault. There is crashing, screaming and china and glass smashing. There are also shouts of pain from another hijacker outside the cockpit, presumed to be attacked. Jarrah stabilizes the plane at 1000 hours and asks, “Is that it? Shall we finish it off?” “No. Not yet.” Says another Hijacker, “When they all come, we finish it off.” Jarrah starts jerking the plane again and a passenger says, “In the cockpit. If we don’t, we’ll die.” And 16 seconds pass by. As a passenger screams, “Roll it!” they start using the food cart as a battering ram for the cockpit door.

Back in New York, people are in awe of the spectacle of the horrific Twin Towers burning and some committing suicide from jumping from the building from the heat. The structure of the building is weak from all the build-up of heat and, at 0959 hours, the South Tower collapsed like a house of cards in 10 seconds. In the collapse, Police officers and contemporary firefighters were trapped under the wreckage, many of whom would not come out.

As this occurs, Flight 93 plummets into a nosedive and is upside down. As one of the hijackers says, “Allahu Akbar” the plane makes a final nosedive into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The final part of the attack was at 1028 hours when the North Tower collapsed and since then, the ground in that area has been flat. America has never recovered since.

“I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

George W. Bush on the site of ground zero

Immediately after the attacks, Osama bin Laden praised the attack and its efforts but denied all claims of it being done by him, allegedly stating to an Arabic news corporation that he “[stresses] that [he had] not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation.” He later went on to email a Pakistani newspaper, saying that “I have already said that I am not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act.” However, the Taliban stated that Bin Laden had no source of contact during this time so could not have emailed this company with such a claim. In October 2001, an underground terrorist organisation called Al-Qaeda declared that they were responsible for the attacks. Al-Qaeda spokesperson, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, said that “I would like to touch on one important point in this address. The actions by these young men who destroyed the United States and launched the storm of planes against it have done a good deed. They transferred the battle into the US heartland. Let the United States know that with God’s permission, the battle will continue to be waged on its territory until it leaves our lands, stops its support for the Jews, and lifts the unjust embargo on the Iraqi people who have lost more than one million children. The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God’s permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation’s youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live.” This led George Bush to invade Afghanistan, in the hope to find those responsible for the attack.

Later that month, CNN illicitly broadcasted an interview with Bin Laden, conducted by Al Jazeera about 9/11, in which Bin Laden stated that “If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists […] We will work to continue this battle, God permitting, until victory or until we meet God before that occurs.” Furthermore, in November 2001, US Forces uncovered a video tape of Bin Laden speaking to Khaled al-Harbi, a member of Al Qaeda, where he explicitly planned the way in which the attacks went ahead, saying that “The brothers, who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation and we asked each of them to go to America but they didn’t know anything about the operation, not even one letter. But they were trained and we did not reveal the operation to them until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.” They could now put a face to the name. The head of the terrorist organisation, Al-Qaeda, who caused the bloodiest terrorist attack on American soil, was called Osama bin Laden.