“After the fall of Kandahar [Afghanistan] in December [7] 2001, between one thousand and fifteen hundred hard-core Taliban guerrillas, including their one-eyed leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and virtually all of his senior commanders, slipped across the border to the safety of northern Pakistan. No attempt was made by the U.S. Army or the Pakistani military to prevent their exodus from Afghanistan. Thousands more Taliban fighters disappeared into remote mountain hiding places in southern Afghanistan, or returned to their villages to wait to fight another day.”
– Matthew M. Aid, The Secret Sentry, Page 229