Future President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai spoke about the Taliban with journalist Ahmed Rashid in October 2001. ” ‘They were good people initially, but the tragedy was that very soon after they were taken over by the ISI [Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence] and became a proxy. …Later the Taliban were to come under the influence of al Qaeda. That is when I began to organize against them. In 1998, I warned the Americans and the British many, many times that Osama bin Laden was now playing a leadership role within the Taliban, but who was listening? Nobody.’ ” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Pages 13-14