“When an angry Osama, his family and retainers flew out of Khartoum [Sudan] on May 18 [1996] on a chartered Ariana Afghan B-727, for his third and perhaps final stay in Afghanistan, Clinton administration policy-makers exulted. They felt they were solving the immediate problem as best they could. Osama was on his way…to the beleaguered eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Washington was convinced it had neutralized a danger to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and allies in the Horn of Africa…as well as depriving Osama of his Sudanese investments, businesses and training camps. …By forcing Osama to leave Khartoum the Clinton Administration lost any reasonable hope of keeping tabs on him again.”
– Jonathan Randal, Osama, Pages 126-127