At its narrowest place in the central Quảng Bình Province, the nation is as tiny as 50 kilometres (31 mi) across, however it widens to around 600 kilometres (370 mi) in the north. Bin Laden experienced fled to the mountains, and the remaining Al Qaeda leaders recognized that, as Arabs and North Africans, they could under no circumstances mix in with the locals, who spoke Dari, Pashto, Balochi, and other regional languages.