On December 14, 1999, “Michael Sheehan, the State Department counterterrorist chief, phoned Taliban foreign minister [Wakil Ahmed] Muttawakil with an emotional message from [President Bill] Clinton. ‘If you have an arsonist in your basement, and every night he goes out and burns down a neighbor’s house, and you know this is going on, then you can’t claim you aren’t responsible,’ Sheehan began. Muttawakil did not grasp the parable. ‘You have a terrorist in your basement,’ Sheehan continued. ‘He is attacking us. And you are completely responsible.’ Muttawakil replied that Afghanistan would do nothing to hurt America. He said there was no proof that bin Laden was behind the [recent terror] plots. Sheehan then read a statement from Clinton: ‘We will hold the Taliban leadership responsible for any attacks against U.S. interests by al Qaeda or any of its affiliated groups. You will be held personally responsible.’ “
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 197