THE TALIBAN: THAT WAS THEN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- United States was "not out to destroy the Taliban," a U.S. diplomat told the regime just a year before a U.S.-led invasion toppled Afghanistan's Taliban government that had harbored Al Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden.

U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan William B. Milam held a secret meeting with an unidentified senior Taliban official in September 2000 and assured him that international sanctions on the Taliban would end if bin Laden were expelled from Afghanistan, newly declassified documents show.

"The ambassador added that the U.S. was not against the Taliban, per se," and "was not out to destroy the Taliban," Milam wrote in a secret cable to Washington, recounting his meeting.

A declassified version of the cable was released Thursday, obtained by George Washington University's National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act.

Milam told the Taliban official — whose name is excised from the declassified document — that bin Laden was the main impediment to better relations between the Taliban and the United States.

"If the U.S. and the Taliban could get past bin Laden, we would have a different kind of relationship," Milam said he told the official.

At the time, a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, Washington had no formal diplomatic relations with Afghanistan because of human rights and other abuses by the militant Islamic Taliban regime.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Bush administration had no comment on the meeting, which occurred before President Bush took office.

Different kind of relationship???

What kind of relationship?

The Taliban was known by the Clinton administration to be a barbaric regime.

"The Taliban's reform of government, was in part directed by scholars on Islamic Law. The punishments, administered by a religious police force, included amputation of one or both hand(s) for theft and stoning for adultery.

"The Taliban banned all forms of TV, imagery, music and sports. Wearing white shoes - the color of the Taliban flag - was illegal and men were required to keep their beards at a specified length."

"The Taliban prevented women from working and sharply restricted the education of girls. In some cases, women were denied hospital treatment to prevent their exposure to male hospital staffers and doctors."

"When the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his Al-Qaeda organization. It is understood that Al Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001."

What did Milam mean when he said that the U.S. wasn't against the Taliban?

It's no wonder terrorists were emboldened by the weakness of the U.S. under the Clinton administration.

In his 2000 diplomatic cable, Milam told his bosses the Taliban official had adopted a "far less obstreperous" tone than usually heard from the Taliban, and suggested the United States do some small favor for Afghanistan to show good will.

The meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, produced no promise from the Taliban to turn over bin Laden, and it is not clear from the material released Thursday what the Clinton administration did next.

By June 2001 under the Bush administration, Milam was warning Afghanistan that the Taliban leadership would bear responsibility for any attack on American targets by bin Laden, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan reported at the time.

It appears there were dramatic changes when President Bush took office. Unlike Clinton's group, the Bush administration was NOT willing to tolerate the Taliban's harboring of bin Laden.

Milam's cable was among Afghanistan-related documents acquired by the National Security Archive, which posted them on its Web site.

Other documents released Thursday chart several years of unsuccessful U.S. attempts to drive bin Laden out of Afghanistan.

At the time of Milam's cable, the United States knew bin Laden was living under Taliban protection along the Afghan-Pakistani border and running his Al Qaeda terror network from Afghanistan. U.S. diplomats had periodic contact with the Taliban to urge his ouster.

The United States had accused bin Laden of orchestrating two 1998 U.S. embassy bombings that killed Americans in East Africa, but neither he nor his terror network were the household names they became after the jetliner attacks on New York City and Washington in September 2001.

Bin Laden and al Qaeda may not have been household names in the U.S. prior to 9/11, but the government was aware of them for years.

As more information comes out, it becomes clearer that the Clinton administration did not deal with the terrorist threat appropriately.

In his address to the nation the night of September 11, 2001, President Bush said:

The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

...America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.

Milam's cable reveals that under the Clinton administration the U.S. DID make a distinction between the terrorists responsible for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings and those who harbored them. That distinction proved to be disastrous.

The U.S. was "not out to destroy the Taliban" while Clinton was in office.

Of course, Clinton knew that the Taliban housed bin Laden in Afghanistan; AND Clinton knew that bin Laden's al Qaeda was out to destroy us.

In a September 3, 2002, interview on Larry King Live, King asked Clinton about how he reacted when he heard of the 9/11 attacks.

KING: Do you remember what you were thinking, Mr. President?

CLINTON: Yes.

KING: What would go through the mind of the immediate former president watching this?

CLINTON: I remember exactly what happened. Bruce Lindsey said to me on the phone, my God, a second plane has hit the tower. And I said, bin Laden did this. That's the first thing I said.

He said, how can you be sure?

I said, because only bin Laden and the Iranians could set up a network to do this, and they wouldn't do it, because they have a country in targets -- bin Laden did.

KING: Did you also think of the same time where you came pretty close to getting him?

CLINTON: Yes. I thought that my virtual obsession with him was well-faced, and I was full of regret that I didn't get him. I mean, I immediately thought that he had done it.

KING: You were obsessed with him?

CLINTON: Yes I was.

If Clinton was so certain that bin Laden posed such an enormous threat to our country, why didn't he act like it while he was in the Oval Office?

If he had been truly "obsessed" with bin Laden and understood the danger, Clinton would not have put up obstacles to prevent the government from pursuing him. Clinton would not have allowed the Reno-Gorelick wall to go up. Clinton would have put pressure on the Taliban.

According to Milam's cable, Clinton was actually OK with the Taliban staying in place!

Although the 9/11 attacks occurred during Bush's tenure, the plot was allowed to hatch during the Clinton years.

Clinton's "woulda, shoulda, coulda" lines are meaningless. He must accept responsibility for policies that endangered America.

As more facts are revealed, Clinton's legacy is being solidified.

The Clinton administration FAILED to deal with the terrorist threat that was already clear and present then.