The image is not accurate at all. That specific image was an invention of the British press during the fevered post 9/11 media environment. Having appeared in The Times (the UK’s Times newspaper, broadly equivalent to the NYT in terms of ‘stature’, though somewhat more right-of-centre politically), it was subsequently copied in international syndication and became part of a narrative of Tora Bora being this fortress, with hydro-electric power stations, hospital facilities, etc. Other reports from the time, such as this one in the NZ Herald, quoted anonymous Afghan sources who claimed to have seen all of this.
The US administration at the time did nothing to dispel these inventive rumours – indeed Rumsfeld suggested that there were many such bases. All perhaps understandable in the context of preparing the US public for a long and costly war.
The invention was most likely based on a description of the Zhawar Kili cave complex, about 100km to the South East of Tora Bora. Zhawar Kili was closer to the ‘mountain fortress’ description depicted in the image, in the sense that it was a large interconnected series of caves, heavily fortified and which contained various ‘rooms’ – classrooms, prayer rooms, hospitals, etc. These were built in the 1980s and financed largely by the CIA and Saudi Arabia during the Afghan/Soviet War. Some of the more far-fetched descriptions (hydro-electric power) were most likely an invention, but SEAL teams did insert into Zhawar Kili and found it to be more substantial than expected.
Tora Bora was more basic. The caves there were smaller, natural caves that had had minimal alterations to them other than for camouflage. They were still a formidable defensive position – high up in the mountains with excellent coverage in the forests, able to spot and fire mortars upon approaching attacking forces with relative impunity. The Battle of Tora Bora was ultimately a demonstration of air power, with the US contribution to the battle being exclusively bombs delivered from fighters, bombers and early drones, guided onto target by teams of Delta Force, Green Berets, Special Boat Service (UK) and other assorted special forces, who inserted with forces loyal to two local commanders persuaded to assist by the CIA. However, these special forces were required in part because the Tora Bora caves were so effective at hiding Al Qaeda fighters from purely aerial reconnaissance. The book Kill Bin Laden: A Delta Force Commander's Account of the Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Man by 'Dalton Fury' (pen name for Delta Force commander Tom Greer) contains a full description of the battle.
While Bin Laden escaped Tora Bora, and many of his fighters with him, the caves were ultimately abandoned (or any remaining fighters were killed) by late December 2001. A Staff Sergeant ‘Jeff’ from one of the special forces teams was interviewed by PBS Frontline after the battle and said:
“Again, with the caves, they weren't these crazy mazes or labyrinths of caves that they described. Most of them were natural caves. Some were supported with some pieces of wood maybe about the size of a 10-foot by 24-foot room, at the largest. They weren't real big. I know they made a spectacle out of that, and how are we going to be able to get into them? We worried about that too, because we see all these reports. Then it turns out, when you actually go up there, there's really just small bunkers, and a lot of different ammo storage is up there.”
Bin Laden did maintain a complex near Tora Bora which was (pre-9/11) his ‘retreat’ of sorts, but pictures of this complex show it to have been a sparsely furnished place, and certainly not a modern military bunker. You can see some pictures here.
You can see lots of pictures of the Tora Bora caves in the Getty Archive here.
