Not quite accurate. He went to that area before 9-ll, just to assimilate islam. It appears as though he then kind of drifted into the Taliban, again before 9-11. He is young, misguided, weird and not worth all the attention he is getting.
Actually he is our most important link to what the taliban was like on the inside, and he may have real future value for us working in the CIA after he gets his head corrected. After all, if Bin Laden was a CIA guy, why couldn't this kid be one?
He will make a mint on the college lecture circuits, guaranteed. Hey, it's not like he sold out his country like Clinton did.