The 75,000 classified documents about the Afghanistan war released by WikiLeaks have been dismissed by some as badly sourced, merely ground-level intelligence or not particularly earth shattering.

But I can confirm that at least one report — noteworthy for the lasting influence of Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden  — is correct.

Why do I know that?  That’s because we where there.

In April 2004 I was embedded along with cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment in Afghanistan’s Khost province along the border with Pakistan.

The Humvees of Alpha Company, the unit we were with that day, were making their way slowly along an ominous bit of terrain, a dry rocky riverbed with cliffs on either side.

We came around a bend and saw something that made us stop dead in our tracks. Two white flags were flying on thin poles, one on either side of the trail. A cord was tied and strung between them blocking the way.  Letters were left on the ground around them kept in place with stones.

Scouts said they hadn’t been there the day before.  Someone was watching us.

“Long Live Usama” and “Long Live (Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar)” were among the inscriptions on the flags.

The letters contained various deadly threats against U.S. forces. “Kill them wherever you find them,” one said.

Perhaps most chilling for us at the time, another which warned that if the flags were removed, “…action would be taken.”

This incident was captured in an intelligence report, and included in the massive document dump leaked by Wikileaks. 

Labeled under propaganda, the report noted that the phrase, “Kill them wherever you find them” was a verse from the Koran, that the Taliban was “looking for coalition forces” and that “God will bless” those who give “information about them.”

The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper this week singled out the report as showing how “…Usama bin Laden’s message representing resistance, jihad and the inevitable triumph of the faithful seemed ubiquitous…”

The U.K.’s Financial Times’ analysis of the documents indicated to them that “…containing Mr. bin Laden may be easier than purging his ideas.”

The Guardian also notes, considering the strength of the Taliban now, the threats against the troops, made in those letters, which we saw, “…echo hauntingly across Afghanistan six years later.”

While in 2004, the hunt for bin Laden was still hot, the intelligence gathered that day said less about the Al Qaeda leader’s whereabouts and more about his command of the spirit of the slowing growing fight.

But on that day, bin Laden’s whereabouts was our main question — as well that of as a very dangerous enemy.

Concerned that hostile action could be immediate, soldiers with hand-held mine sweepers were called up and cleared the area of any IED’s.  The convoy made its way around the flags.

And then the cord was cut down (interestingly, by Afghan soldiers not named in the document) and the enemy evidence was taken away.

It was late in the day, so we made a base a half mile further along the riverbed for the night. Cameraman Pierre fed the video back to New York.  I tried to catch a few winks in a sleeping bag in one of the Humvee’s tire tracks.  Soldiers stayed on watch all around us.

There was no direct retaliation during that tour but there were incidents.  One company took fire.  Another soldier was shot and injured by a sniper. A suicide bomber was headed off and killed.

Last fall we were back in Afghanistan’s Khost province, embedded with other Army units, covering the same ground.  But this time, the rate of casualties was much higher, American forces more hunkered down in fortified bases.

While the release of these documents are raising security concerns, they are also a reminder, especially the one we can personally speak to, of opportunities which perhaps have been missed, and tough challenges which definitely lie ahead.