According to US military intelligence, many al-Qaeda fighters, including Osama Bin Laden, crossed the Safēd Kōh to escape to Pakistan during the Tora Bora offensive in 2001. After 2004, the Safēd Kōh mountain range was a pivotal place and theater of many battles fought between the foreign fighters of al-Qaeda and the joint Northern Command of the Pakistani military, with the latter trying to prevent the foreign fighters' incursion into Pakistan.