National Security Archive Declassified Docs on Taliban

[WheresWaldo]

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB97/index.htm
HIGHLIGHTS:

A November 1994 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad which mentions one of the first kidnappings conducted by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the self-confessed mastermind of the kidnapping of slain American reporter Daniel Pearl. Sheikh, who in 1994 went by the moniker Rohit Sharma, kidnapped one American-Bella Josef Nuss--and three British citizens. The document indicates that Sheikh (Sharma), "holds a British Passport, attended the London School of Economics, and spent time in Bosnia where the abuse of Muslim women apparently radicalized his views." In January of 2002, eight years after the 1994 kidnapping, the Bush administration finally asked Pakistan to arrest Saeed Sheikh<2>.

A February 1995 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad which offers a detailed biographic sketch of the secretive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Amir-ul-Momineen (leader of the faithful), from his origins in the Mujahideen to his rise as the leader of the Taliban. <8>

A December 1997 Department of State cable summarizing a meeting between Taliban officials in the US as part of a Unocal delegation and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Karl Inderfurth. When the Taliban are questioned by Inderfurth over their allowing Osama Bin Laden refuge, a Taliban representative responds by saying that if they expelled Bin Laden he would go to Iran and cause more trouble. Another representative notes that the Taliban did not invite Bin Laden into Afghanistan, but that he was already inside Afghanistan, "as a guest of the previous regime when they took over." The Taliban representative claims that they had stopped allowing Bin Laden to give public interviews, and "had frustrated Iranian and Iraqi attempts to get in contact with him." <24>

DIA cables from October 2001 which discuss the role of Pakistan in the rise of the Taliban and questions about Pakistan's and the ISI's connection with Bin Laden. "Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was able to expand under the safe sanctuary extended by Taliban following Pakistan Directives."

A November 2001 DIA cable that discusses the relationship between the assassination of Northern Alliance Commander Ahmad Shah Masoud and the terrorist attacks of September 11. The cable indicates that Masoud had gained limited knowledge "regarding the intentions of the Saudi millionaire Usama (bin Ladin) (UBL), and his terrorist organization, al-Qaida, to perform a terrorist act against the U.S. on a scale larger than the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania." Could Masood's knowledge of an attack, and subsequent warning to the US government have led to his assassination? <31>

[westerby]

1. Thanks for the info.

Does not seem to arouse much interest here...

[WheresWaldo]

2. could you recommend a forum

where such info would generate interest??? DU is great, but at times, i feel as though there are a lot of amateurs and high schoolers around...

[westerby]

3. 911pi.com

Here is the overview of discussion topics
http://911pi.com/6/ubb.x?a=cfrm&s=5396090821

Only few people discuss things here, but they are all concerned with 9/11.

I am not aware of a forum where many informed people discuss 9/11-related topics (while accepting the possibility of LIHOP etc.).

[PATRICK]

4. How about LBN?

If there was a discussion of the mastermind's recent description of the plot I must have missed it. What drove me up a wal is how it fell short in the typical AP reader's digest blurb. The two real ringleaders were in the pentagon crash, the leade plane therefore at the key target. As spectacular as the WTC tragedy was why is NO mention made in the article about the planned targets of the DC attacks? Symboically and by opprtunity the most devastating blow would have been against the Congress.

While those schleps were busy there as usual, Bush dawdled- on purpose to my tinfoilhat thinking- until the half attack on the Pentagon happened and still no interference with the forty minute delayed plave surviving.

More dots but not all. No lines drawn, no imagination, no thorough reporting. Am I missing something or is there a fuller story of that mastermind's information that mentions DC targets specifically?

You guys should be jumping on new evidence even the controlled trickles, especially if the CIA amy be trying to get it out on purpose.

Keep the investigation alive.