Eastern Alliance Commander Haji Zahir during an interview by the Sky News team near the headquarters from which he orchestrated his offensive on the Taliban remnants and Al Qaida holdouts at Tora Bora. Although competent in English, Zahir will only allow a taped interview to be conducted in Pashto.

Less than ten kilometers from where approximately 1,000 members of Al-Qaida, their families, and allegedly Osama bin Laden himself hid among mountain caves, the world media clustered atop a rocky knoll. With a public hungry for details regarding this potential endgame to an emotionally charged conflict, journalists scrambled to file informational and insightful reports. In wartime coverage of shifting combat situations, there is little in the way of certainty. In the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan at Tora Bora, the search for the truth proved more elusive than Al-Qaida fighters.

On December 13, atop a small hill not far from where the bombs were falling, a large group of people clustered around a single man. Commander Haji Zahir's bodyguards surveyed the crowd with watchful eyes, scanning the array of foreign devices directed toward their boss.

"Today, these foreign aggressors are finished," Zahir gloated as B-52 bombers continued to unload their deafening ordnance every 20 minutes.

Zahir, a former Afghan warlord who controlled a large drug producing region prior to his ouster by the Taliban, had returned from exile in Pakistan two weeks prior with a convoy of new sports utility vehicles and a large quantity of American currency which he used to secure the loyalty of tribal leaders and former Talibs.

He said the money was provided by representatives of a U.S. intelligence agency he believed to be the CIA. Accompanied by considerable braggadocio, posturing and gloating, Zahir claimed that hundreds of enemy combatants were expected to surrender to his forces that day.

For the approximately 35 reporters surrounding him, numbers are critical. They want the numbers as much as they need the numbers. Good numbers can lend the pretense of verisimilitude to what might otherwise seem vapid speculation. The problem is with the sources of the numbers. Although there were three sides in this conflict, these dubious commanders are the only sources available on the ground. The opposing forces, the remaining Al-Qaida and Taliban forces hiding in the mountains, failed to retain a spokesperson. It is no help that many would likely seize the opportunity of killing any Western journalist as a guaranteed ticket to heaven.

At the time we thought it was just poor communication on their part, but of course it turned out they were just lying," said Nick Toksvig, senior editor for Sky News in London.

Eastern Alliance mujahideen sit atop a worn Soviet era tank plastered with images of slain Tajik commander of the Northern Alliance, Shah Mohmad Massoud.

Nearly as invisible, yet explosively omnipresent, the third side in this conflict: the vapor-trailing, bunker-busting Americans. While Washington may better coordinate its information campaign, the mono-message at the time was a remarkably content-deficient, target-poor environment for the news media.

Certainly not material for a 500-word filing expected by the news desk three times daily.

"The question is, who are we responsible to?" said Nahlah Ayed, correspondent for the Canadian Press who spent six months in Afghanistan. "I am not an activist journalist by any stretch. I work for a wire service, supposedly the purest form of journalism still in existence, but I believe in making as much information available as possible for the public good, since that is who we serve."

She said that with the expense of sending staff into locations such as Afghanistan, there is unspoken and direct pressure to produce results.

Ayed was castigated by her editor back home for not reporting that bin Laden's voice had been heard issuing orders on the evening of Dec. 14.

"They were very disappointed, despite the fact it had since been proven untrue," Ayed said. "We didn't get the headline and someone else did."

With Tora Bora's contentious alliance of three commanders, all whom had alternately regarded one another as colleagues or adversaries, the flow of misinformation was as hot and heavy as the superheated-magnesium "daisy-cutting" the hills above. The result was a three-headed hydra offering conflicting information and specious accounts.

Considering the popular belief that U.S. Special Forces were conducting most of the ground fighting and the admitted lack of communication between the mujahideen and American command, the veracity of their information is further suspect. At 10 a.m. on Dec. 13, they claimed that 20 enemy fighters had been killed and 140 had agreed to surrender and come down the mountain in one hour.

Osama bin Laden was no longer believed to be in the area. One hour later, the media return to their "Camp Rhino," a temporary journalist ghetto near the base of the mountain. Here, other correspondents are reporting only eight kills and that more than 200 surrenders are expected.

By mid-afternoon, a senior ranking commander returns from the front lines claiming to have killed 100 fighters and that those surrendering have swelled to 300, due to walk down the hill at any moment.

The mujahideen soldiers doing the actual fighting are no more reliable. Three weeks prior almost all were Taliban, now paid the equivalent of $16 to $50 US dollars a day to fight their former compatriots. Additionally, reports at the time indicated, and subsequently proved true, that Alliance soldiers were profiteering by taking bribes from the enemy and allowing them to escape.

With AC-130 gunships and B-52 bombers of the United States Air Force passing overhead, Zahir addresses the press on the morning of Dec. 13, 2001.

Throughout the day on the 13th, access to the combat area was denied. The absence of dispatches, press conferences, joint statements, or any other definitive source of information created a dangerous environment for the truth. Hundreds of reporters idly milled around, all with very real deadlines.

Lacking information, they eventually turned to each other to compare their facts. The same are never heard twice. Thirteen or 80 killed of 400 or maybe 700 fighters. The number on the verge of surrender is closer to 60, or maybe three have already surrendered? The only item of consensus is that Geraldo is an embarrassment.

Desperate for eye-wash, broadcast crews turned to their friends, beseeching them to impersonate out-of-focus mujahideen as "background color," these small deceptions broadcast live to the global audience.

A BBC crew coaxed the commander of an armored unit to roll his smoke spewing Soviet T-55 tank forward 20 meters to make for an exciting backdrop for their reporter.

The problem was more than the typical conflict of deadlines and demands versus ethics. It was an inter-reliance that developed between reporters in lieu of materially reliable sources. This was aggravated by relaxed standards and little accountability.

"There was little fact-checking that could be done back in the news room," Toksvig said. "We could have said whatever we wanted. With Tora Bora our news organization would normally accept what we told them as we were on the ground and they were not. Editorially though the people in the head office should always be aware of content as it reflects on their organization. They can offer guidance but it should be left up to the reporter on the ground."

He said that although they tried to provide the best information available, they had to make compromises.

Integrity declines and the best of intentions and standards are eventually compromised. The end of the day -or whenever the next report is expected to be filed- finds many weighing the conflicting information and going with what personally sounds most credible.

It took few credentials to be considered and quoted as an expert. After observing my familiarity with the designations of older Soviet tanks, I found myself fielding questions on the identities of the invisible aircraft above and the variety of bombs being dropped.

Declining to offer educated guesses only disappointed the inquirers.

As colleagues and competitors turn to one another for information, they rely not only on the veracity of their sources, but also on each other's principles as journalists. Instead of information following traditional channels, it took a new course, circulating between the members of the press. A closed circle of dependence based on flawed assumptions of credibility and ethical standards.
A feedback loop of recycled information.
On another level, the political agendas of those reporting could plainly be seen affecting the information they were streaming to the home audience. While Geraldo pranced around the hills in an ego-ecstasy foaming about "flushing out the rat's nest" of Al-Qaida evil-doers, others seemed intent on characterizing the American campaign as cruel and inhumane.

Eastern Alliance supply trains consist almost entirely of four wheel drive trucks ferrying men, weapons and supplies. Some mujahideen proclaim, "Toyota is good for Jihad!" These Alliance soldiers are going to reinforce a secondary position, which paid 2,000 Pakistani rupees ($33 USD) per day. Front line fighting paid 3,000 ($50 USD), while those serving a support role in the combat area, without participating in direct fighting, earned 1,000 ($16 USD).

A news personality from the U.K. detailed on live television how Al-Qaida fighters had been heard over radio channels crying and begging for the bombing to stop, desperate to surrender. Powerful, opinion-shaping stuff. Left unstated was that this "scoop" came second-hand from a Canadian photographer. Several hours before he had overheard on a radio something that "sounded like" people crying in Farsi, although his translator was not present and he had no means of confirming the speaker's identity or source of transmission, let alone language.

While these sentiments regarding the campaign may have been legitimate, there was little basis. The lack of information worked both ways, while nothing could be substantiated, little could be disproven either. These conditions created a lethal environment for the truth, as validity was to be found in all manner of pet theories and speculative extensions of logic.

On the evening of the 14th, a sports utility vehicle carrying a sub-commander returning from "the hill" is consumed by the ravenous pack. According to him, there certainly were 1,000 up there, but incredulously 60 have escaped on mules, and tonight, they might all surrender.

Being the holy month of Ramadan, the setting of the sun meant it was time to break the day's fast, and with this all ground operations ceased until the next morning.

On the morning of the 15th, it came as no surprise to learn that the various caves and fortifications seized the previous day had reverted to enemy control.

Even members of the impartial press found unintentional alignment with one of the Alliance factions present, subsequently misaligning themselves with others.

After a day's journalistic hits and misses, shiny new Toyota trucks would ferry a select few to special invitation-only feasts in the tents of one of the three commanders present.

Within a medium sized room, various upper ranking confidants lounge on cots arrayed about the perimeter. Commander Zahir beckons those invited to join him in an impossible feast, with an assumed familiarity that would be insult to rebuff. Laughing and enjoying the small luxuries of pull-tab Pepsi cola, it is easy to forget that five years prior to his current role as 'liberator,' the affable host was committing war crimes and financing his power by smuggling opium and heroin.

The media guests, far from stoic bastions of impartiality, exhibit behavior befitting enamored groupies. Smiling coquettishly, they struggle to ingratiate themselves with their dubious host instead of finding the story. Reporters young and old smile for a photo-op with Zahir's second-in-command, a towering Afghan fighter who goes only by "Crazy."

The mood and tone are blithe, and it is only with a begrudging sense of obligation that a few questions are asked.

Off the record, a commander present admits: they had no idea how many were killed or how many were up there, and the only certainty is that nobody is going to willingly surrender and come walking down the mountain.