Their efforts were held back by a lack of intelligence and because the 1999 takeover of the government by current President Pervez Musharraf put a halt to joint U.S-Pakistani efforts, Pakistani intelligence officials say. The lack of intelligence on bin Laden is just one of many problems the U.S. and British commandos are facing, U.S. military planners say. Bin Laden is often reported to be surrounded by nearly 400 armed supporters, many of whom arrived with him from Sudan in 1996. There are also up to 40,000 mujahedin, or Islamic guerrillas, in Afghanistan who have vowed to fight alongside bin Laden. Many of the mujahedin are veterans of the fighting during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
Military analysts say the mujahedin know the country's rugged terrain better than anyone.
They defeated the Soviets with only small arms and plenty of motivation. Afghanistan's rugged terrain also presents problems. Eighty percent of the country, which is roughly the size of Texas, is mountainous. There are also miles of underground caves and bunkers in some of the interior provinces where Pakistani intelligence officials believe bin Laden could be hiding. The country is booby-trapped with more than 10 million landmines, most left over from the fighting with the Soviets, International Red Cross officials say.