Posted on 09/11/2001 11:26:42 PM PDT by duck soup
US Attitude to Pakistan: The Bin Laden Factor EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT (Snip) He further wrote: " After all, Osama bin Laden is not exactly a stranger to Washington. During the height of the war against the Soviets, he was the blue-eyed boy of the Saudi intelligence and ran his Bayt al-Ansar (House of Auxiliaries) in collaboration with the Jordanian-Palestinian Muslim brother Abdullah Azzam in Peshawar. Their activities were heavily funded by the Saudi intelligence and the CIA knew all about Osama." Before Mr.Nawaz Sharif's visit to Washington in the first week of December,1998, there was intense speculation in the Pakistani press that the bin Laden and terrorism proliferation issues had become as important a benchmark in US-Pakistan relations as the nuclear proliferation one. In a series of three articles in the "Nation" (November 24,25 and 26,1998), Syed Talat Hussain, another well-informed columnist, wrote as follows: "One of the worst apprehensions Washington has is that someone from Osama's group might be able to acquire usable nuclear technology which would give the threat from the holy warriors a whole new and deadlier dimension. Already the West is accusing the supporters of Osama of attempts to gain a nuclear sword. There have been reports of some of those allegedly belonging to Osama's party, who were caught from Europe, were trying to buy nuclear secrets."
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