U.S.

Breaking 'Bin Laden's Ant Farm'

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 28, 2001 / 5:36 PM EST / CBS

A provincial military commander believes Osama bin Laden is still in Afghanistan, hiding in the eastern mountains.

Specifically, the commander thinks bin Laden is in a cave fortress known as Tora Bora. The massive hideout was built by the U.S. to house forces fighting the Soviet Army in the 1980s.

The complex - nicknamed "bin Laden's ant farm," is burrowed deep into Gree Khil peak -- soaring 13,000 feet above the village of Tora Bora.

It is virtually impregnable -- a latticework of tunnels, storage rooms for arms and munitions, and accommodations for up to a thousand fighters.

Ventilation shafts bring fresh air 1,200 feet inside the mountain. A nearby river provides hydroelectric power to the complex.

Now, at least 2,000 of bin Laden's al-Qaida fighters are believed to be hiding there, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

The main entrance is sloped upward to protect against air attack and emergency exits are hidden behind rocks and mud walls. Pictures taken for CBS News by an Afghan show damage caused by U.S. planes not far from where a Taliban loyalist is seen supervising the repair of the main road to the fortress. The photographer would have faced imprisonment had he been captured.

Hezmat Ali, in charge of security for the province, admits he does not control Tora Bora -- it is in the hands of the Taliban and bin Laden's Arab fighters.

"They do not let anybody go there. The Arabs took all their weapons to the stronghold and they are not allowing anybody in the area, not even the local villagers," says Ali.

As local tribal elders prepare to go to Tora Bora to negotiate peace, the military commander of the province confirms that American advisors are in eastern Afghanistan and he has talked to them. But he does not want U.S. troops deployed here.

"This is our area and we don't need force. We can solve this problem by ourselves," says Haji Zaman.

Meanwhile, American jets continue to pound every known bin Laden camp, focusing on caves, including some outside Jalalabad.

The military has bunker-busting bombs that can crack open hardened concrete shelters. But Tora Bora is dug so deep into solid rock that short of a nuclear bomb there may not be a weapon in the U.S. arsenal that can penetrate it.

"It will be a tough fight. I think they are already prepared for a hard fight. Now they are positioned in their stronghold. Their chant is either we win or we die," says Ali.

The elders will try to persuade bin Laden's forces to surrender their last outpost in eastern Afghanistan. But if the talks fail, a long fight could be in store.