Details given for friendly audience about tactics, mistakes, funding and even entrepreneurial opportuneship.

May 16, 2011 1:57 PM

Interesting details about the tunnel dug for the recent escape of 500 Taliban.
posted by maiamaia (11 comments total)

The Taliban made more money from the earth excavated by the tunnellers, which they drove out of the compound in trucks and sold in a nearby market, the article said.

Where there's a will, there's a way.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:00 PM on May 16, 2011

Go Canada!
posted by KokuRyu at 2:03 PM on May 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

which was supposed to enter the wing of the prison housing political prisoners, veered off to the right, "reaching a village close to the prison".

Albukoikee?
posted by hal9k at 2:07 PM on May 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

Go Canada!

I thought they were no longer in charge of that prison, since those 900 prisoners escaped a few years ago. Anyways, not to worry. I hear Harper has an interest in building prisons that work like they have in the US.
posted by Hoopo at 3:36 PM on May 16, 2011

There must have been a mole amongst the prison staff.
posted by benzenedream at 3:44 PM on May 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

Tunnelling began from a building outside the prison walls that the Taliban turned into a cement workshop, which employed workers and produced building materials.

Work began on the tunnel only after the cement workers had finished work for the day, and cement blocks produced during the five-month operation were sold "making much profit".

They raised the funds for this by starting a legitimate business. I don't know why that's so funny to me. Maybe they're the only ones around with enough capital to start a business like that. If so, they should keep doing it. It sounds like a positive thing.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 4:13 PM on May 16, 2011

They were assisted by one of a few inmates who were in on the plot. He found excuses to bang loudly on his cell floor to guide the tunnellers.

"Abdul, what are you doing?"
"Practicing my tap dance routine, O shaykh!"
"Why can you not be more like the other prisoners, Abdul? Always it is something different. Yesterday it was the weights, the day before it was the knock-knock joke tournament. By heaven, if you were not my wife's brother-in-law I would send you away from here."
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:41 PM on May 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

I know I am a bad person, but as a Canadian I could not care less about Kabul politics, and I'm sick of hearing about it on CBC. I hope our troops come home soon.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:18 PM on May 16, 2011

That's kind of awesome.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:13 AM on May 17, 2011

This prison escape is a serious setback in the Western World's plan for eventually giving up without achieving anything of note in Afghanistan.
posted by srboisvert at 2:45 AM on May 17, 2011

Dis ain't Pismo Beach!

But seriously, in a country that is essentially one big pile of rocks and soil, who the hell buys dirt in the market?
posted by gottabefunky at 11:56 AM on May 17, 2011 [1 favorite]