Jawbreaker: The CIA Operation To Capture Or Kill Osama Bin Laden

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from December 6–17, 2001, during the opening stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. The CIA constructed a team led by Gary Schroen, who directed CIA operations to find and capture Osama bin Laden, while Gary Berntsen also a CIA case officer, served as the Commander of all CIA forces in Eastern Afghanistan and led the agency’s Jawbreaker team in Tora Bora. With Bin Laden surrounded by special forces from the United States and British forces, it was Berntsen who called for backup forces of no more than 200 officers to engage the schoolhouse to which General Tommy Franks, the general commander of U.S forces in Afghanistan declined the request. Bin Laden would then escape into the White Mountains into Pakistan.