Leaked Docs: Osama Didn’t Flee to Pakistan After All

Escape From Tora Bora Led Northeast, Officials Believe

Despite a solid decade of US officials insisting that Osama bin Laden fled from Tora Bora to Pakistan and remains there to this day, new leaked document show that this is not the case. Rather, US officials collected considerable evidence that bin Laden did not flee to Pakistan, but deeper into Afghanistan.

The documents cites information from detainees familiar with the escape, and said bin Laden was escorted out of Tora Bora to the northeast, and wound up in the Kunar Province. He remained there for at least 10 months. There was no indication where he went from there.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, on the other hand, did flee to Pakistan, but fled into the frontier areas along the border after the capture of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed. The documents provide no good clues as to where either wound up after that.

US officials continue to express the belief that bin Laden is in Pakistan, but this does not appear to be based on any concrete evidence to that effect. Given that bin Laden was able to secure his escape deeper into Afghanistan and remained there deep into 2002, it seems he could have easily gone anywhere.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.