US Held Secret Meetings with Taleban in 1998

Voice of America ^ | 20 August 2005 | Staff

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

Declassified documents reveal the U.S. State Department held secret meetings with top Taleban officials in 1998 and discussed assassinating or expelling al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan.

Documents declassified Thursday show diplomatic efforts between Washington and the Taleban rulers took place a few months after deadly terrorist bombings at U.S. Embassies in Africa. That also places the meetings nearly three years before the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The documents show that a diplomat from the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan met with a top aide to Taleban leader Mullah Omar twice in late 1998. During the meetings, the aide suggested the U.S. either kill or arrange for Osama bin Laden to be assassinated.

The aide expressed concern that the Afghan people would reject the Taleban if it expelled the al-Qaida leader and allowed him to be turned him over to the Americans.

A U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taleban in October 2001

[DTogo]

And we all know what the then Commander-in-Chief was preoccupied with in his second term...

pizza deliveries and cigars in the Oval Office.

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

There are a lot of unanswered questions here - including, for starters, why the documents were declassified.

[bobsunshine]

See this post regarding recent documents released from State Dept.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1466671/posts

From Post (summary of documents)

---

"The U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan told a top Taliban official in September 2000 that the U.S. "was not out to destroy the Taliban," but the "UBL [Osama bin Laden] issue is supremely important," according to declassified documents posted today by the National Security Archive. The documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, show how years of U.S. diplomacy with the Taliban, combined with pressure on Pakistan, and attempts to employ Saudi cooperation still failed to compel the Taliban to expel bin Laden.

Harboring bin Laden, but hesitant to sever diplomatic ties with the U.S. completely, the Taliban claimed there was insufficient evidence to convict bin Laden of terrorism, going so far as to say that Saddam Hussein was behind the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam."

---

The documents related to Taliban and OBL - items 1 through 6 - from National Security Archive

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB134/index2.htm

[Wuli]

The documents were declassified some time ago. Now the media wants to use them to help rehabilitate Clinton's "national security" credentials before Hillary runs for pres. They are trying to head off what is yet to come with full disclosure about Able-Danger, White House lawyers and Jamie Gorelick; as the walls kept intelligence compartmentalized and Clinton "dickered" around the White House.

[Sthitch]

I wonder how the left will spin this to make it Bush or Rove's fault.

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

That makes sense, but how do we know the documents aren't a ploy to flummox Bin Laden into taking or refraining from some course of action? That could also be an angle.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

During the meetings, the aide suggested the U.S. either kill or arrange for Osama bin Laden to be assassinated.

If this is true, why didn't we follow up?

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

Another unanswered question. This news tidbit is most peculiar.

[sinclair]

Cruise missiles in a tent or up a camels butt ring a bell?   

[Fitzcarraldo]

Anyone who thinks they could negotiate with the Taliban must've been on LSD. OBL was made commander-in-chief of the Afghan armed forces in late August 2001, just days before 911.

UPI News Article: Taliban slammed over bin Laden appointment

[cdrw]

Yes - this is old news. It has been known for some time.

[Our_Man_In_Gough_Island]

I beg your pardon, but the earliest post we have on this is three days ago, August 18, 2005. Where is a link to an article published earlier about this fact " that has been known for some time" ?

[Puppage]

US Held Secret Meetings with Taleban in 1998

I like our last meeting more

[airborne]

That's all Clinton ever did about terrorism.

Talk.

[Kevin OMalley]

Bump for later reading. I got a very sick feeling.