On May 1, 2000, the State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator Michael Sheehan “told reporters that he did not believe the Taliban was hostile to the United States. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘they repeatedly tell me that they want good relations with the United States, and I believe that to be a sincere desire. However, within the territory that they control, there are numerous terrorist organizations that directly threaten the United States, that directly undermine the security of the region and other parts of the world, and that is a problem.’ ”
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 198