“…the agency [CIA] had opened up its own channel to the Taliban. In great secrecy, it had sent Robert Grenier, the Pakistan station chief, to Quetta to meet with Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Usmani, the Taliban’s senior military commander. Grenier urged Usmani to persuade [Taliban leader Mullah] Omar to give up bin Laden, but there was no response. In a second meeting, on October 2 [2001], Grenier asked Usmani to desert Omar and help deliver the Saudi terrorist. However, Usmani remained loyal to Omar.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 77