The Killing of Mullah Omar, Part 2
Andy Kubik's true account of controlling airstrikes on November 27, 2001 four miles southeast of the Kandahar International Airport, Afghanistan
Monitoring the Kandahar International Airport six miles south, my three-man special operations team of US Army Special Forces and myself as the lone US Air Force Combat Controller, we were now sitting on the first mountaintop south of the airport on this site when what I claim still to this day in December 2021, that the former leader of Afghanistan and founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar first appeared in his American or western made black Chevrolet Suburban around 0900am local on November 27, 2001.
This followed after General Mattis, and 1000 of his US Marines arrived 90 miles south of Kandahar the day prior. We believe that the arrival of the US Marines outside of Kandahar on November 25, 2001, scared Mullah Omar, forcing him to counter his last public message claiming that his remaining Taliban forces would fight to the death out of Kandahar against the American Satanic forces.
By appearing outside of the city of Kandahar as he exited in a black Chevrolet Suburban, Mullah Omar made one final attempt to sneak around our secret location two days later to drive south down Highway 4 in hopes of successfully entering Pakistan.
Mullah Omar intended to return to his handlers in the Pakistani ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence Agency).
Kandahar, Afghanistan
That first night on the front lines, I spoke with various pilots flying a mixture of aircraft to include fighter aircraft, JSTARS Intelligence aircraft. Navy P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft gathered real-time intelligence on our most forward lines.
I spoke with a Navy Electronic Warfare P-3 Orion, a former submarine hunter, the following day.
My team and I sat on a mountaintop approximately six miles south of the Kandahar Airport. We had very little information about the battlefield in front of us, relying on updates from the local Afghan tribal warriors and now this EP-3 Orion.
Navy EP-3 Orion Electronic Warfare Submarine Hunter
At first, I only heard the buzzing sound of the EP-3 orbiting overtop the airport. I grabbed my radio and proceeded to pull up a very high frequency (VHF) emergency radio frequency 121.500 and attempted to reach the aircraft.
"Aircraft flying above Kandahar Airport, contact Texas 17 on TAD 145."
Within seconds there was a response.
"Texas 17, this is King 15; how do you read me?"
"King 15, this is Texas 17. I have you loud and clear."
"Texas 17, what are you doing out here? You're the first Americans we've met out here."
"We're in the area doing some work hunting down Arabs and Taliban."
"Ah yeah, they know we're in the area; they call us Buffalo over their cell phones...And they know you're in the area."
"Damn, you're kidding me?"
"No, they're talking about you guys all morning; now it makes sense."
"What can you tell us about the area?"
"Most of their activity is around the airport and Tarnak Farms. Mostly vehicles and small teams. We come here every morning through the afternoons to monitor their voice traffic. We will make sure next time we stop by, we track you down and share updates."
"Thanks, King 15, we appreciate that. Good meeting you; we'll talk with you later."
"Roger that Texas 17, take care."
Periodically we discovered moving vehicles attempting to depart downtown Kandahar heading near or inside the Kandahar International Airport. My new three-man team followed the Rules of Engagement or ROE.
The ROE clearly stated we were not to target infrastructure, Mosques, or bridges. Those happened to be the hiding spots for the enemy.
Taliban Toyota Hilux with Mortars covered the vehicle with mud to camouflage the trucks in hopes of hiding from airstrikes…
The Taliban Toyota Hilux pickup trucks with mortars proved to have quick mobility and flexibility, too; they would easily position themselves near or below the first bridge closest to our location.
Repeatedly harassing our position, these trucks regularly launched ineffective mortar attacks, always landing short of our location. We waited until the Taliban departed from the safety under the bridge.
We grew more confident after attempting to drop and skip bombs under the bridge. In the end, we proved more effective in targeting their positions with gunfire from F15 Strike Eagles. These aircraft soon proved to come alive in the middle of the night, giving us a new sense of motivation and enthusiasm that proved contagious.
Vehicles repeatedly appeared out of nowhere, entering the Kandahar airport and the AL Qaeda training camp known as Tarnak Farms.
After several days of bombing, what remained of Tarnak Farms were at least 88 mud buildings, including one of Bin Laden's primary homes in Afghanistan.
Within weeks before the official air war on October 6, 2001, Bin Laden was last reported at Tarnak Farms.
After the Al Qaeda 1998 terrorist bombings on American embassies in Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, Tarnak Farms became famous within the channels of the CIA. The embassy attacks proved deadly and effective resulted in immediate American responses that nearly saw the first live deployment of American military special operations designed to hunt down human targets.
Tarnak Farms Al Qaeda Terrorist Training Camp, Kandahar, Afghanistan
In 1998, the CIA had recorded Bin Laden in Tarnak Farms on full-motion video from a new secret drone known as the "Predator." These videos studied Tarnak Farms in hopes kill teams would search for and kidnap Bin Laden. Questioning the effectiveness of SOCOM and the CIA, the leadership canceled the special operations force pissing off the CIA handlers and operational leadership.
President Clinton eventually signed off on limited Tomahawk guided missile attacks launched at specific Al Qaeda positions in Sudan and Afghanistan to include Tarnak Farms.
Three years later, in November 2001, we were the first team of Americans in southern Afghanistan, nearest to Tarnak Farms and the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar's location in Kandahar.
Positioned on the closest mountaintop within six miles of the Kandahar airport, the more we studied the emerging battlefield still controlled by enemy forces. The Taliban and foreign Arabs proved motivated and inspired to put up with our repeated air attacks.
Some key Pashtun Tribal Lieutenants who could speak English and had previous experience living and working in this local area to Kandahar proved effective in sharing key and rare personal intelligence on past operations in Tarnak Farms.
The Pashtun officers reported how Bin Laden and his force kept mostly training inside the camp. Al Qaeda would have anywhere from 100 to over a thousand foreign fighters at any time training in Tarnak Farms and staying in the nearby former Soviet barracks.
Nearby, hundreds of abandoned former Soviet armored vehicles were parked outside the airport left as virtual ghosts over ten years earlier following the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
People flew into the Kandahar airport from countries worldwide, acquiring the training, skills, knowledge, and expertise funded by the Saudi Royal family. The Pakistani ISI proved to be the primary source of weapons, training, and resources for the Taliban in Kandahar, the last remaining force resisting active American attacks.
I remember carefully targeting emerging vehicles that would fail at targeting and harassing our position. Not knowing where our team’s secret location was nor where our secret support position was, the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces proved ineffective in their attacks.
On purpose, we waited for the near-endless supply of Toyota Hilux and Land Cruiser SUVs to drive away from buildings, bridges, and infrastructure surrounding the actual airfield.
On purpose, we avoided bombing the runway noting how it was previously targeted during the air war.
In the end, we cautiously went about controlling our airstrikes.
I primarily handled all the airstrikes while Chris and Eric did their best to learn the basics in real-time.
Confident in my ability to work with little rest, the reality of our situation, whether throughout the evening hours or through the warmer afternoon hours of daylight, we were under little to no pressure threatening our position those first couple of days on the forward lines. However, we immediately proved lethal and effective in our combined airstrikes to essentially accomplish our task of cutting off the main highway 4, between the actual city of Kandahar onwards in an eastern running pattern into greater Pakistan.
We cut off all vehicle traffic leaving and entering Kandahar, essentially shutting the entire city of Kandahar closing down the active markets supplying the residents of the mid-sized city with a population greater than 200,000.
One particular morning, the early sun rose above the horizon beyond our view of the Kandahar airport, nearby Tarnak Farms and Highway 4 as it departed the city of Kandahar heading in our direction. Underneath the piercing clear blue skies free from clouds, the temperature grew warmer, where we now wore sweatshirts and standard desert uniform pants.
Sitting on the observation point, I was peering through the scope. Chris was squatted near me with binoculars. Meanwhile, I laid in the prone position, doing my best not to grow too tired from overusing the weak 24x powered spotting scope. I put effort at squinting and focusing my attention; I was searching through the small device in detail, studying the battlefield from the outer ends of the city of Kandahar down along Highway 4, closer to our secret position sitting on the mountaintop.
The morning passed by slowly, free of any activity. Looking back at our previous days and nights of consistent attacks and bombings, it was doubtful that we would discover any new activity this early in the morning.
Our reality was how that morning, our adversary in the remaining Taliban and foreign Arabs to include local citizens, refused to travel across that obvious contested ground; as per Sun Tzu's Art of War, the land in front of us became the deadly ground.
The time was around 0900 am local on or near November 27, 2001.
As Eric was studying an old Soviet 1-50,000 meter-sized map, he positioned himself for a rare break next to the Toyota Hilux pickup trucks parked at the mountain base.
Withstanding the extreme conditions of Southeast Afghanistan, those vehicles were worth their weight in gold. As the morning hour progressed, I was the first man to notice the movement.
I saw a lone Black SUV departing Kandahar driving south heading toward us, peering through the spotting scope. Chris immediately shifted his focus until he captured the moving vehicle through his binoculars.
"I see him."
The more I studied the emerging details, the more I wondered about the black SUV I asked out loud….
"What the fuck is he doing driving out here at this time???"
After all the bombing we proved to do throughout this area, everyone inside the entire city of Kandahar naturally knew by now that the location of the airport is now most likely deadly ground. Our attacks threatened anyone who risked driving in the area.
What proved more peculiar was how this black SUV was driving alone near the airport in the middle of the day.
"What the fuck is this guy doing?"
The SUV drove consistently, progressing confidently along Highway four to direct itself near our location.
The closer he approached our position in that lone black Chevrolet Suburban, the more apparent the details describing this vehicle with great clarity.
At one point, I stated, "This appears to be an American-made Black Chevrolet Suburban."
Immediately I noted the significance of this vehicle's make and model yet had no idea who was inside nor their intention.
My memory has me already communicating with a four-ship of Navy F-14 Tomcats actively orbiting over our location.
Eric threw away his cigarette to maneuver back to our position and immediately updated the emerging picture unfolding in real-time.
My rucksack with my main PRC-117F multi-band radio is currently turned on and equipped with a SATCOM Satellite antenna.
Now, I just needed to lean over and change radio frequencies from the main Tactical Air Direction (TAD) commonly used in controlling aircraft to the main Satellite radio direct to the CAOC in Saudi Arabia.
The CAOC managed all aircraft flying inside Afghanistan. It would take mere seconds to make contact and request more aircraft.
I chose to monitor the emerging picture continually and let the situation reveal itself more before taking action.
The Black SUV drove past the main entrance to the Kandahar airport continuing south down Highway four, now approaching our position.
Naturally, through the shared conversation between the three of us, the approximately 25 Pashtun Tribal warriors assigned to our security listened closely.
After all the hours of dedicated observation of the surrounding area, giving us peace of mind, these tribal warriors proved natural in providing our security.
Eventually, the Black SUV made its way nearly two miles from our position suddenly turned left down a dirt path leading into the first small village of a dozen or so mud huts. We purposely avoided targeting this village and proved effective in preventing damage to that location.
We were also careful to stop bombing next to a growing presence of Bedouins positioned in a tight group of tents surrounded by a large group of Camels. The group was now between our location and the SUV parked inside the village.
We witnessed three individuals exit the lone black SUV through my scope and alongside Chris with his binoculars. The driver and rear passenger were both like the Taliban and carried AK47 rifles. The leading passenger did not. Walking around the vehicle, all three men entered the first mud hut with confidence as if they had previous experience with those who called the place home.
As they disappeared, both Chris and I nearly naturally shifted our focus back across Highway 4 out to the main entrance into the City of Kandahar proper.
We proceeded to scan the Highway back and forth to immediately be caught by surprise by the appearance now of a long convoy of Japanese sedans.
There were approximately a dozen sedans now following the Black SUV's same direction and the same path.
I proceeded to move the F-14's overtop the sedans.
Navy F-14 Tomcat
"Call contact on the Kandahar airport."
"Contact"
"Call contact on Highway 4."
"Contact."
Using references from large to small descriptions of prominent features, I led the pilot's towards the sedans.
"Follow Highway 4 south from the entrance to the airport down approximately two miles until you call tally on a moving convoy of sedans."
As the pilots tried to find the sedans, we received a phone call over our satellite phone Eric carried. He responded to the phone call, being surprised by the screams on the other end, clearly announcing to Chris and I in alarm that our team located back in the village of Tach Te Pohl were actively being targeted and effectively hit with artillery rockets, four at a time.
Multiple things happened at the same time.
There was continued whistling sounds high above our location.
The surrounding Afghan warriors got up from their position, leaning forward yet slowly, simultaneously. They started moving backward and below the mountaintop. At the same time, Eric repeated what they did and moved away from Chris and me. It proved unusual and unfamiliar to me.
Eric proceeded to say, "You want to hear that noise."
He was referring to the whistling noise.
I quickly scanned the area before registering his passing comment and choosing to ignore the whistling sound.
As I waited for more details to emerge and reveal themselves, defining the intent of the sedans, they arrived at the same lone dirt road the SUV turned on into the village.
At that same intersection, the sedans followed each other, forming a large circle repeatedly driving in the same direction generating an emerging cloud of dust. Their actions naturally associated themselves with the Black Suburban.
I shifted my view through the spotting scope away from the Sedans and proceeded to scan back across the flat desert lands leading back up Highway four in search of more traffic.
I was quickly welcomed to a much more threatening picture as an approaching convoy of Afghan Jingly Trucks or 2.5-ton utility trucks resembling large dump trucks.
As I alerted Chris and Eric, I reached into my rucksack to switch frequencies directly contacting the CAOC.
"Kmart, this is Texas 17."
"I need immediate aircraft to report to the city of Kandahar and contact Texas 17 via TAD 145. We have one, two, three up to six trucks approaching our location, including a minimum of 12 sedans threatening our team…."
At that moment, a massive explosion hit behind our position, causing white and black smoke to rise over 70 feet high into the air mixing with a growing cloud of dust.
As the approaching convoy of six trucks aggressively proceeded behind the sedans heading toward our location, the F-14's called visual on the vehicles.
Doing my best to make sense of the dynamic battlefield redefining itself in front of us, our secret support base located ten miles south of our position was now also threatened and under heavy artillery attack.
At that moment, a second explosion hit, this time approximately 100 meters in front of our position, proving to accomplish our worst fears.
Both of these simultaneous artillery attacks proved our secret locations were now compromised.
By who?
What you do not want is to be bracketed effectively. This is a standard military term describing someone launching artillery, estimating the location to surround you with artillery fire.
Understanding how we just got bracketed, instantly, my instincts were to prioritize targets in the area.
Our new reality quickly proved that we lost the advantage of surprise and were now on deadly ground. The artillery resembled fire from a Soviet or Russian-made BM-21 Multiple Rocket Launcher System or MRLS, hidden inside the airport.
My first action was to divide the aircraft into two flights.
I proceeded to control each plane towards its own targets.
"01 that circle of sedans is your target, report in direction expect clearance on final."
Immediately responding to my transmission, 01 and 02 responded by altering the final flight path until they maneuvered into targeting the sedans.
The remaining two aircraft were listening, waiting for their assigned commands.
I responded, "03, call contact on the airport."
"Contact" was their quick response.
"Call contact on highway 4".
"Contact."
"Call contact on the entrance to the airport."
"Contact."
"Move north up highway four call tally on a six-vehicle convoy."
Almost precisely as planned, the original 01 and 02 flights reported their direction is from the east, pointing the aircraft's nose away from our location.
"Cleared Hot."
He proceeded in a deep dive angle targeting the first available sedan.
03 and 04 reported tally or getting visual of the approaching convoy of trucks.
20 seconds later, the first sedan exploded, bursting into flames and explosions rising high and billowing in smoke, growing in size and mass, totally changing the emerging battle immediately in our favor.
Next, I targeted sedans giving the wingman final clearance.
"Cleared Hot 02".
Next, I moved the second set of aircraft over top of the convoy of trucks wanting to trap the entire convoy.
"03, cleared hot on the lead track."
"04 cleared hot on the last vehicle."
Acknowledging my final clearance, 03 clicked his radio twice.
Destroying the entire truck and its entire load, whether filled with soldiers or ammunition, the convoy came to a halt.
02 called in from the east, following 01 targeting the next sedan.
"Cleared Hot 02"
As I waited for the results of his attack, I naturally switched back to the convoy of trucks now desperately attempting to maneuver around the destroyed lead vehicle.
04 responded with his direction, targeting the rear truck.
"Cleared Hot 04"
Another sedan exploded, halting the forward progress of the following sedans.
A second explosion proved 04 successfully destroyed the last truck, trapping the convoy terminating that threat.
Moving back to the original circle of sedans, the original flight of 01 and 02 reattacked and destroyed every vehicle.
As I waited for their next attack, I moved 03 and 04's attention towards the Black SUV as it attempted to depart the village heading east.
Soon after, I cleared 03 hot to attack the now departing black Chevrolet Suburban SUV exiting the small village to the east.
My remaining attention shifted to 01 and 02 and moved them towards the airport, where we hunted the Russian BM21 Multiple Rocket Launcher actively targeting our locations.
03 and 04 returned to a flight of 4 planes until they ran low on fuel and departed the area.
Those four aircraft defended our three-person team and our support site 10 miles south.
Eric, Chris, and the Afghan forces sitting near me appeared transfixed on the battlefield.
All aircraft that followed hunted the Russian BM-21 Multiple Rocket Launcher.
Out of relief that we survived the attacks, I steered away from the rules of engagement.
I focused on critical structures hiding the Toyota Hilux Mortars, effectively destroying each building one by one.
I became more aggressive, changing the battlefield in our favor.
At no time did we report that battle up the chain of command back to our support site in Tach-te-Pohl nor higher up to Task Force Dagger in Uzbekistan. We didn't even share the results of that battle with the CAOC in Saudi Arabia.
We were relieved that we survived the attacks and had no understanding of the impact our actions in that battle played on the Global War on Terror (GWOT) until almost two years later.
The following picture is the last known position of Mullah Omar, the founder and leader of the Taliban.
The last report of Mullah Omar being alive was on November 27, 2001, after we destroyed the black Chevrolet Suburban less than four miles from the Kandahar Airport.
The last known location of Taliban founder and leader Mullah Omar alive. On November 27, 2001, Omar was killed four miles southeast of the Kandahar International Airport.
How did the Taliban discover our secret location AND our secret support site 10 miles south of our position? How did the Taliban coordinate complex integrated artillery rockets attacks on top of both locations at the SAME time within five minutes of each other, SIMULTANEOUSLY precisely at the same time when Mullah Omar appears alone in his American-made or western black Chevrolet Suburban within 2 miles of our location heading towards Pakistan.
All this happened to unfold the day after US Marine Corps Major General Mattis and over 1,000 US Marines arrived 90 miles south of Mullah Omars last known location in Kandahar?
Between 2003 and today, I've reported this mission nine times to every level of authority managing the Global War on Terror with no support for a professional investigation.In November 2019, I returned to Kandahar, Afghanistan, to investigate this mission and got within four miles of the bomb crater.
Because I wasn’t allowed to approach the bomb crater and investigate the site, We would never confirm or deny if Mullah Omar's remains were at that location.
Out of so-called safety concerns, an Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) Two-Star, from the US Special Operations Command or USSOCOM, Air Force General and Combat Controller Mike Martin prevented me from approaching the final remaining crater where still to this day, I have proof sits the final remains of the former leader of Afghanistan and the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar.
General Michael Martin, USAFSOC, is not the only officer in American special operations who failed to help me. The list of so-called leaders and warriors who resisted my repeated refusals to quit and stop investigating this mission is long and distinguished.
What's significant about these claims is how if we knew at the time of the mission that Mullah Omar died on November 27, 2001, the results would have shut down most of the war in Afghanistan within 1-3 years.
Why?
To better understand, read Part 2, the conclusion; I will post the next articles and conclusion soon on this site.
For now, writing has exhausted my mind. I don’t want to waste your time, energy, or focus.
I want accountability and validation; far too much was sacrificed trying to do what was best for our citizens, nation, and way of life. Never getting an investigation is a serious matter reaching criminal behavior and professional neglect; words fail to explain.
After taking over his palace in downtown Kandahar, Mullah Omar’s other “Western” made vehicle, we discovered. 95% of all vehicles inside Afghanistan are made in Japan, not German or American-made vehicles.
If you own a “western” made vehicle in Afghanistan, you’re either very wealthy and /or are a significant leader of influence in the local community.
Thank you,
AgileDagger
The last physical known position of Taliban founder and leader Mullah Omar was on November 27, 2001, four miles southeast of the Kandahar Airport. Two days after the arrival of US Marine Corps Brigadier General Mattis and the US Marines over 90 miles south of Kandahar. And the week after the last known interview with Mullah Omar in Kandahar and BBC Radio.
This satellite image was taken by the US Air Force and Intelligence Community (IC) on December 7, 2001, the day we secured the Kandahar International Airport and city of Kandahar, finally, Tarnak Farms Al Qaeda Terrorist Training Camp.
Notice the village southeast of the bomb crater. (Picture is flipped where North is to the bottom left-hand side…).
See the line of “Holes”?
That is an underground irrigation system that trapped the Black Chevrolet Suburban as it departed the village attempting to flee our attacks from the Navy F-14 Tomcats.
