CIA Director George Tenet provided a written statement for the 9/11 Commission on March 24, 2004. He wrote: “The Taliban aided Bin Ladin by assigning him security guards, establishing communications facilities for him and al-Qa’ida, spreading disinformation on his behalf, and permitting him to build and maintain terrorist camps. The Taliban refused to cooperate with efforts by the international community to extradite Bin Ladin after the US indicted him in 1998 on 319 criminal counts, including conspiracy to murder US citizens.”
– CIA, “Statement for the Record of the Director of Central Intelligence Before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States,” (Office of Public Affairs, CIA), The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, March 24, 2004