[iwar] [fc:Satellite.'Picks.Out.Bin.Laden.Caves']

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-03 13:03:51


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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2001 13:03:51 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Satellite.'Picks.Out.Bin.Laden.Caves']
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London Times
October 3, 2001
Satellite 'Picks Out Bin Laden Caves'
By Zahid Hussain in Islambad and Michael Evans, Defence Editor

Osama Bin Laden may be hiding in caves near a former Russian base in the
Pamir mountains close to the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan,
according to reports in Pakistan. 

Pakistani intelligence is convinced, the reports said, that bin Laden
and hundreds of his associates have taken refuge in an extremely
inaccessible nook of Pamir in the Wakhan corridor bordering Afghanistan,
Tajikistan, Pakistan and China. 

A report published in a leading Pakistani newspaper claimed that bin
Laden's presence in the region had been confirmed by satellite and human
intelligence. 

The Pamir mountains, known as the "roof of the world", are a highly
treacherous range, 20,000ft to 25,000ft high, which would make it
difficult to find the exiled Saudi terrorist.  The nearby former Russian
military base at Wakhan, near Kunduz, was built by the Soviet Union
during its occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. 

Bin Laden was reported to have constructed a bunker in caves near the
base after two of his training camps in Afghanistan were attacked by
American Tomahawk cruise missiles in 1998.  The caves have exit routes
to Tajikistan, China's Muslim-dominated Xinjiang province and Pakistan,
where bin Laden has support. 

The reports claimed that Russian intelligence had informed the Americans
of the routes to the Pamir base.  Pakistan's military Government has
agreed to share intelligence information with the United States. 

Some observers believe, however, that Islamabad may try to withhold some
crucial information because of the fear that it might be passed to
Afghanistan's opposition Northern Alliance, which has its headquarters
in Badakhshan province, close to Wakhan. 

Mark Galeotti, a Russian expert with Jane's Intelligence Review, said
that the geography of the Pamirs would not offer the ideal hiding place
to bin Laden, unless he had succeeded in constructing his own bunker
inside the mountain.  He said there was no evidence that the Russians
had built deep bunkers in the area that could now be used by bin Laden. 
They had no need for impregnable bunkers because their opponents had no
heavy artillery, he said. 

He also rejected the suggestion in the Pakistani reports that the
Russians had built a bunker in the Pamir mountains to house tactical
nuclear weapons.  Mr Galeotti said that considerable engineering
expertise would have been necessary to dig into the mountain to build a
bunker. 

The Pamir range is being watched by American spy satellites because of
reports a few years ago that bin Laden had constructed a command and
control centre in a natural cave system in Kunduz, near Tajikistan. 

Most of the recent reports have suggested bin Laden has taken refuge
inside a deep cave in southern Afghanistan. 


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