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CIA had plans to destroy al-Qaeda before Sep 11 attack: Report
The CIA had prepared a plan to destroy Osama bin Laden`s al-Qaeda network and destablise the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan much before the September 11 terrorist attack on New York and the Pentagon, a news report in Washington said.
The CIA had prepared a plan to destroy Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and destablise the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan much before the September 11 terrorist attack on New York and the Pentagon, a news report in Washington said.
''The national security council drafted a proposal for a new CIA covert action programme that would have cost as much as $200 million a year,'' the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The plan had two main components. First, the CIA would have been authorised to destablise the Taliban leadership. Second, the CIA would have launched a programme to destroy the al-Qaeda network worldwide. The plan was ready to be submitted to President George W Bush when the terrorists struck on September 11.
Since the attacks, the President has authorised much more sweeping and lethal CIA programmes against bin laden. The cost will be more than one billion dollars, most of it for covert action in Afghanistan and around the world.
The paper said that for the past four years, the CIA hired a team of 15 recruited Afghan agents to regularly track bin Laden, who mostly stayed in Kandahar and Jalalabad areas.
''The national security council drafted a proposal for a new CIA covert action programme that would have cost as much as $200 million a year,'' the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The plan had two main components. First, the CIA would have been authorised to destablise the Taliban leadership. Second, the CIA would have launched a programme to destroy the al-Qaeda network worldwide. The plan was ready to be submitted to President George W Bush when the terrorists struck on September 11.
Since the attacks, the President has authorised much more sweeping and lethal CIA programmes against bin laden. The cost will be more than one billion dollars, most of it for covert action in Afghanistan and around the world.
The paper said that for the past four years, the CIA hired a team of 15 recruited Afghan agents to regularly track bin Laden, who mostly stayed in Kandahar and Jalalabad areas.
The terrorist leader was tracked down at that time by the special team organised by the CIA, which still has a classified code word. The team had information about bin Laden's whereabouts most of the time. ''We never could say where he could be in the future so that the attack could be launched,'' the paper, quoting officials, said.
Bureau Report