In June 1998, with Osama in their sites, the CIA devised a plan to capture the Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden and spirit him out of Afghanistan. The CIA authorized a family of agency-backed guerillas, (former Afghan Mujahedeen), codenamed TRODPINT agents to stage a raid on Bin Laden’s hideout, Tarnak Farm, a mud-walled complex of 80 buildings in the desert just outside Kandahar airport. After sharp criticism from top CIA and White House officials, the mission was scrapped due to severe risk.
In Osama 1998, players take on the role of CIA-sponsored agents tasked with finding and capturing Osama Bin Laden. Players will raid Bin Laden’s hideout, Tarnak Farm, by walking through the desert in the dead of night, crawling through a drainage ditch in the outer wall of the complex, and bursting into the huts where Bin Laden sleeps. The mission culminates with the capture of Osama Bin Laden.
As with all KumaWar missions, Osama 1998 also includes a video news show exploring the real event. In this episode, CNN terrorism analyst and journalist Peter Bergen, a longtime al Qaeda expert who produced the first television interview with Osama Bin Laden and author of the book ‘Holy War, Inc.: Inside The Secret World of Osama Bin Laden’, joins Jacki Schechner to discuss the aborted mission and how it compares to what U.S. forces are presently trying to do. Dante Anderson, Kuma's Head of Product Development, also discusses how the mission is re-created in gameplay and provides tips to help players get out of the terrorist hideout alive.