Tarnak Farms

Tarnak Farms refers to a former Afghan training camp near Kandahar, which served as a base to Osama bin Laden and his followers from 1998 to 2001.

Tarnak Farms still in ruins in 2005.

The camp is very close to the Kandahar airport.

After the United States forces took over the airport, they used the ruins for their own training exercises.

9-11 hijackers believed to have trained at Tarnak Farms
Mohamed AttaRecorded his will at Tarnak Farms.[1]
Ziad JarrahRecorded his will at Tarnak Farms.[1]

Suspects believed to have trained at Tarnak Farms
ISNnamenotes
578Abdul Aziz Adbullah Ali Al Suadi
2David Matthew Hicks
27Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman
  • Yemeni
  • Denies participating in any training or hostilities[2]
535Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah
63Mohammed al Qahtani
  • The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his third annual review in 2008 asserted he had acknowledged spending two months training at Tarnak Farms:[3]
  • The detainee stated that after al Farouq training camp, he started advanced training at the Tarnak Farms Training Camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan.[3]
  • The detainee stated he spent approximately two months at Tarnak Farms Training Camp. The detainee practiced firing automatic rifles and pistols while walking, running, and from moving vehicles. The detainee also practiced urban warfare techniques, such as room clearing, kicking down doors, and jumping through windows. The detainee was also shown how to use explosives to blow open a locked door.[3]
  • The Tarnak Farms facility housed an al Qaida poison and explosive training laboratory and an advanced operational training camp. The Tarnak Farms camp was the most important al Qaida training camp in Afghanistan since it was where al Qaida operatives received advanced operational training including urban assault and other tactics.[3]
258Nayif Abdallah Ibrahim Ibrahim
  • The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his third annual review asserted "a source" reported attending a "city tactics course" with Nayif.:[4]
  • The city tactics course length was five to six weeks long and primarily covered assassinations in urban areas. The training was held at the Tarnak Farms Camp, Kandahar, Afghanistan.[4]
223Abdul Rahman Abdul Abu Ghityh Sulayman
  • The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his third annual review asserted "a source" reported attending a "city tactics course" with Nayif.:[4]
A source identified the detainee as someone who was at Tarnak Farms in January 2000.
74Mesh Arsad al Rashid

The "factors favoring release or transfer" on his first and third annual reviews reported that he had denied knowing anything about Tarnak Farms.

757Ahamed Abdel Aziz
  • His 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal and his third annual review in 2007 stated: "The detainee attended a speech by Usama bin Ladin at Tarnak Farms , near Kandahar, Afghanistan."
  • His first annual review in 2005 stated that he attended the bin Laden speech at Tarnak Farms in November 1999.
235Saeed Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah Sarem Jarabh

Allegations on his second annual review board stated that he attended one week of AK-47 training at the Abu Abaida Training Camp. Those allegations stated:

  • "The detainee trained with weapons for one week at the Abu Abaida Training Camp, also known as Tarnak Farms near the Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan."
  • "The Tarnak Farms facility in Afghanistan housed an al Qaida poison and explosive training laboratory and an advanced operational training camp. The Tarnak Farms camp was considered the most important al Qaida training camp in Afghanistan since it was where al Qaida operatives received advanced operational training including urban assault and other tactics."

Home to bin Laden

In 1998, bin Laden moved his followers from Nazim Jihad to Tarnak Farms following Northern Alliance threats to attack Jalalabad.[5]

It was widely reported that a visit to the Tarnak Farms in 2000 represented a rare opportunity to kill Osama bin Laden.[6][7][8][9][10] It was reported that Tarnak Farms was one of bin Laden's homes, but President Clinton was shown drone footage that reportedly showed a child's swingset at the camp and was "haunted" at the prospect of bombing innocent families.[11]

Intelligence trove

In December 2001, U.S. forces occupied the site. They claim they found a wealth of intelligence. The camp was taken over by the U.S. to be used for their training.

April 17, 2002 friendly fire incident
Main article: Tarnak Farm incident

On April 17, 2002, four Canadian soldiers of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were killed at this site while conducting a night time live-fire training exercise. Two passing American F-16s piloted by U.S. Air National Guard Majors Harry Schmidt and William Umbach had mistaken the machine gun and anti-tank weapons flashes of the exercise for enemy fire and dropped a 227-kilogram (500 lb) GBU-12 laser-guided bomb on the Canadian position, despite orders to await confirmation.[12]

The bomb killed Canadian Forces Sgt Marc Leger, Cpl Ainsworth Dyer, Pte Richard Green and Pte Nathan Lloyd Smith and wounded eight other CF soldiers.[13]

See also

References
  1. "Watch the video: Osama Bin Laden's HQ". The Times Online. 2006-10-01. Archived from the original on 2006-12-27.
  2. documents (.pdf) from Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
  3. 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. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
  4. OARDEC (2007-04-24). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Nayif A Al Nukhiylan" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 64–66. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
  5. Testimony of Abdurahman Khadr as a witness in the trial against Charkaoui, July 13, 2004
  6. Mark Sage (March 18, 2004). "CIA missed chance to capture bin Laden in 2000". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  7. "Missed opportunities: The CIA had pictures. Why wasn't the al-Qaida leader captured or killed?". NBC News. March 17, 2004. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  8. "Watch the video: Osama Bin Laden's HQ". The Times. October 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  9. "Focus: Chilling message of the 9/11 pilots". The Times. October 1, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  10. Steve Coll (February 21, 2004). "Legal Disputes Over Hunt Paralyzed Clinton's Aides". Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-12-30.
  11. Mayer, Jane, "The Dark Side", 2008.
  12. Ormsby, Mary (10 November 2012). "Three Tarnak Farm survivors remember 2002 friendly fire incident". Toronto Star. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  13. Yaniszewski, Mark (2007). "Reporting on Fratricide: Canadian Newspapers and the Incident at Tarnak Farm, Afghanistan". International Journal. Sage Publications Ltd. 62 (2): 362–380. doi:10.1177/002070200706200210. JSTOR 40204274. S2CID 141837377.

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