SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A doctor who treated wounded al-Qaida fighters at Tora Bora in Afghanistan has confirmed that Osama bin Laden was at the mountain stronghold as U.S. and Afghan forces attacked — and said the al-Qaida chieftain seemed concerned about only his own welfare.
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, a doctor from Yemen, told a military panel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that he carried out amputations with a knife and scissors in the caves of Tora Bora during the siege in late 2001 and had to abandon his patients several times when B-52 bombers flew overhead.
Batarfi said he was forced to treat the al-Qaida fighters and was not a terrorist himself. Desperate to escape the bombings, he said he asked to see the commander of forces at Tora Bora because he wanted to learn how to escape.
Two weeks later, he was summoned to a meeting — and found himself face-to-face with bin Laden, whom he had met once before in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
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The rare insider's account of the siege of Tora Bora is contained in transcripts The Associated Press obtained Friday from the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act. The transcript is of a hearing held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, where Batarfi — who was arrested after the siege — is being held.
Batarfi confirmed he met with bin Laden for 10 minutes.
"He came from behind the trees and I assumed there was a cave nearby that secured his place," Batarfi said.
He added that bin Laden would limit meetings to 45 minutes so U.S. forces would be unable to home in on him and fire a missile.
Batarfi said he told bin Laden that conditions at Tora Bora were terrible and that, because of bombardments and attacks by helicopters, if they did not leave, "No one will stay alive."
Batarfi added that only a few poorly armed al-Qaida fighters were present to fight off any invading force.
