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US forces had Osama Bin Laden "within their grasp" in Afghanistan in late 2001, a US Senate report says.
It says calls for US reinforcements were rejected, allowing the al-Qaeda leader to "walk unmolested" into Pakistan's unregulated tribal areas.
The report was prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff.
It says the failure to kill or capture Bin Laden had far reaching consequences and laid the foundation for the protracted Afghan insurgency.
The report comes as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a long-awaited decision on sending troop reinforcements to Afghanistan.
It is highly critical of officials in former President George W Bush's administration and military commanders at the time.
'Potent symbolic figure'
It says that while the "vast array of American military power... was kept on the sidelines", US commanders "chose to rely on air strikes and untrained Afghan militias" to pursue Bin Laden in the mountainous complex of caves and tunnels known as Tora Bora.
"On or around 16 December [2001], two days after writing his will, Bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," the report says.
Bin Laden is still thought to be hiding in the area.
The report says the "failure to finish the job" laid the foundation for "today's protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan".
It says calls for US reinforcements were rejected, allowing the al-Qaeda leader to "walk unmolested" into Pakistan's unregulated tribal areas.
The report was prepared by the Foreign Relations Committee Democratic staff.
It says the failure to kill or capture Bin Laden had far reaching consequences and laid the foundation for the protracted Afghan insurgency.
The report comes as President Barack Obama prepares to announce a long-awaited decision on sending troop reinforcements to Afghanistan.
It is highly critical of officials in former President George W Bush's administration and military commanders at the time.
'Potent symbolic figure'
It says that while the "vast array of American military power... was kept on the sidelines", US commanders "chose to rely on air strikes and untrained Afghan militias" to pursue Bin Laden in the mountainous complex of caves and tunnels known as Tora Bora.
"On or around 16 December [2001], two days after writing his will, Bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area," the report says.
Bin Laden is still thought to be hiding in the area.
The report says the "failure to finish the job" laid the foundation for "today's protracted Afghan insurgency and inflaming the internal strife now endangering Pakistan".