“In late January 2002 he [Afghan President Hamid Karzai] sent foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah to Washington with a strong warning, asking the Americans to stop Pakistan from helping the Taliban regroup. Abdullah said, ‘I know that the Taliban leaders are in Pakistan. Pakistan should take this opportunity to clean its house because those elements who supported the Taliban for so long are still there in Pakistan, and they are strong, they are armed and they are well equipped.’ Abdullah told me [journalist Ahmed Rashid] that he was extremely blunt in Washington, but the Americans were interested only in the whereabouts of al Qaeda’s leaders, and on that issue Islamabad [Pakistan] was being helpful. ‘The CIA wanted Arabs, not Afghans,’ Abdullah said.” [The 25th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 241