Tarnak Farms

Tarnak Farms
Interactive map of Tarnak Farms
Tarnak Farms still in ruins in 2005.

Tarnak Farm was an Afghan training camp near Kandahar, which served as a base to al-Qaeda emir Osama bin Laden and his followers from 1998 to 2001. It was also the site of the Tarnak Farm incident.

Description

Tarnak Farms was a compound just outside Khandahar Airport in Afghanistan. It consisted of roughly 80 concrete or mud-brick buildings that were surrounded by a wall that was 10 feet (3.0 m) high.: 111  It had been constructed as an agricultural cooperative by the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. It contained dormitory-style houses, storage facilities, a mosque, and a building that had been converted into a medical clinic. A six-story office building sat on the edge of the compound. Outside Tarnak Farms were a series of plots, irrigation canals, and drainage ditches. The site was roughly half an hour's drive away from the city of Khandahar, and the nearest buildings were over 1 mile (1.6 km) away.: 391 

History

In 1998, Osama bin Laden moved his followers from Nazim Jihad to Tarnak Farms following Northern Alliance threats to attack Jalalabad. Video of Tarnak Farms in 2000 made by the Central Intelligence Agency appeared to show bin Laden at the location. The administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton considered seizing bin Laden at Tarnak Farm, but the mission was never carried out due to concerns about killing innocent women and children, as well as legal disagreements within the administration.

The Tarnak Farms facility housed an al-Qaeda poison and explosive training laboratory and an advanced operational training camp. Operatives of al-Qaeda received advanced operational training at the facility, including urban assault. The September 11 hijackers Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah recorded their wills at Tarnak Farms.

On April 17, 2002, a friendly fire incident occurred when four Canadian soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were killed at Tarnak Farms while conducting a live-fire training exercise. While flying an F-16, American pilot Harry Schmidt dropped a 227-kilogram laser-guided bomb on the Canadian position. The bomb killed Canadian Forces Sgt Marc Leger, Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, Pte Richard Green and Pte Nathan Lloyd Smith and wounded eight CF soldiers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (22 July 2004). "Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults". The 9/11 Commission Report (PDF).
  2. ↑ Coll, Steve (2004). Ghost Wars. Penguin Books. ISBN 9780141020808.
  3. ↑ Sage, Mark (March 18, 2004). "CIA missed chance to capture bin Laden in 2000". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  4. ↑ "Missed opportunities: The CIA had pictures. Why wasn't the al-Qaida leader captured or killed?". NBC News. March 17, 2004. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  5. ↑ "Watch the video: Osama Bin Laden's HQ". The Times. October 1, 2006. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  6. ↑ Mayer, Jane, "The Dark Side", 2008.
  7. ↑ Ensor, David (March 17, 2004). "Drone may have spotted bin Laden in 2000 - Mar 17, 2004". CNN. Retrieved September 10, 2021.
  8. ↑ OARDEC (2008-01-17). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Qahtani, Maad" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 34–37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  9. ↑ "Watch the video: Osama Bin Laden's HQ". The Times. 2006-10-01. Archived from the original on 2006-12-27.
  10. ↑ Ormsby, Mary (10 November 2012). "Three Tarnak Farm survivors remember 2002 friendly fire incident". Toronto Star. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  11. ↑ Yaniszewski, Mark (2007). "Reporting on Fratricide: Canadian Newspapers and the Incident at Tarnak Farm, Afghanistan". International Journal. 62 (2). Sage Publications Ltd: 362–380. doi:10.1177/002070200706200210. JSTOR 40204274. S2CID 141837377.

31°27′18″N 65°49′26″E / 31.455°N 65.824°E / 31.455; 65.824