UN ambassador Bill Richardson flew to Kabul, Afghanistan on April 17, 1998, to speak with delegates of the Taliban. “…they would not expel bin Laden. ‘They just said no,’ said a White House official. [Head of Taliban government] Mullah [Mohammad] Rabbani said, ‘Bin Laden is our guest here. He is under our control.’ Rabbani claimed that no one would listen to bin Laden because he was not an alim (religious scholar) and had no credentials to issue fatwas. The Taliban would not allow terrorism to emanate from Afghan soil, Rabbani said.”
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 124