Masood was assasinated by Bin Laden operatives just days before 9/11. That was to stop him from being urged by the US to take out Bin Laden. Masood was the greatest danger to Bin Laden and with proper backup would have been sucessful. Unlikely Bin Laden would have escaped.
Ya I had caught alot of that in the news. Another advantage he had was that he already had captured the hearts of many Afghanis. He would have had no need to try to convince them that he was really the good guy.
I had also heard that he had tried getting us to give him some material support such as helicopters. Well it's all too little too late now.