When one thinks of tourist attractions, images that come to mind include Disneyland, Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Great Pyramids etc. What about a terrorist hideout? Officials in Afghanistan have unveiled a strange but ambitious plan to transform OBL’s former Tora Bora hideout in to a tourist destination.

The Afghan authorities plan to invigorate the country’s fledgling tourist industry by developing Osama bin Laden’s Tora Bora mountain hideout as a visitor attraction.Dr Hassamuddin Hamrah, the man in charge, believes that the caves which once housed bin Laden and his fighters, together with the remains of mangled Russian tanks and crashed helicopter gunships from the 1980s, will prove a tourist magnet.

But he said the plan was being undermined by scrap metal merchants from across the border in Pakistan who were taking the wrecked military hardware. “We wished to keep the artillery, tanks, aircraft and also the military posts and front lines. But the Pakistanis have frustrated our plans,” Dr Hamrah said.

Afghan officials are currently searching for potential investors for the project. While it’s a novel idea, I can’t help but agree with Captain Ed when he mused,

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t begrudge the Afghanis any honest effort to build a free-market economy. Somehow, though, I have trouble visualizing Tora Bora Land, complete with rides and concession stands in an area that the US military found to be almost inaccessible. Besides, the atmosphere has to be pretty grim in that area, with tribal warriors not far away in Pakistan and the continuing presence of NATO troops to guard against any reinfiltration.Sounds like a wonderful idea. I know many people want to spend their leisure time taking the Lunatic Bombthrowers Tour. With any luck, the Afghanis can corner the market.