http://www.msnbc.com/news/664935.asp?cp1=1the airlift of evil, an early 2001 report
http://www.thedossier.ukonline.co.uk/Web%20Pages/WASHINGTON%20TIMES_Soldiers%20say%20US%20let%20Taliban%20general%20go.htmU.S. troops say that the military mistakenly released one of the most-wanted Taliban leaders in Afghanistan in the summer based on faulty intelligence.
U.S. Special Forces soldiers said that in late July, a Green Beret A-Team, backed by about 20 local Afghan fighters, apprehended Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani as he left his compound at daybreak in a town west of Kandahar. Soldiers identified him as Osmani, handcuffed him and brought him by truck to Kandahar.
Osmani, among the top six most-wanted Taliban, was flown to a detention center at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, for interrogation, the Special Forces soldiers said. He was one of the Taliban's top generals, leading thousands of troops as coalition forces ousted the hard-line regime.
But, according to these soldiers, Task Force 180 — the overall command in Afghanistan — released Osmani a few weeks later.