[gandalftb]

I was a vast complex that has been used by bandits for thousands of years. It is very deep and in hard rock. Also there are many differant facing slopes and an air burst on one side would have little effect on the other. Many problems with fallout pollution, political repercussions, friendlies in the area, etc.

We used bunker busters with minimal effect. The most effective ordnance was fuel-air explosions in the cave entrances that degraded the breathing air and propagated lethal concussions. Caves are tough to attack. People are hard to kill externally.

[Airborne1986]

"Caves are tough to attack. People are hard to kill externally."

I am late to this thread. But my recollection is that we did not have a lot of boots on the ground at the time. There were Special Forces teams and other SOC personnel. But not large numbers of people. There was also some troops from the 10th Mountain Division, which I think were a rapid reaction force. There were huge logistical obstacles involved in deploying and sustaining combat commands into Afghanistan quickly. I don't think we had the option to make Tora Bora an all-U.S. or even mostly-U.S. operation.