In an interview with journalist Peter Bergen in January 2005, the Taliban’s deputy minister of the interior, Mullah Khakshar, said: ” ‘There was a splinter group within the Taliban who did not want bin Laden in the country [Afghanistan]. We proposed to a group of moderate Taliban to go to [Taliban leader] Mullah [Mohammad] Omar and talk about the presence of bin Laden. It never happened. No one had the courage to say this to Mullah Omar. Also bin Laden was distributing money, cars and vehicles, so some Taliban loved him.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Peter Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know, Page 235