“Starting in late 1997, the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center developed a plan to capture and remove bin Laden from Afghanistan. Using local tribesmen, the agency planned a nighttime capture at his primary residence, Tarnak Farms, outside Kandahar Airport. They rehearsed it in autumn 1997 and again in March 1998, and finally did a complete rehearsal in May 1998 with an eye to carrying out the abduction in mid-July. But on May 29 [1998], CIA director George Tenet called off the operation, fearing that the risk of civilian casualties was too high.”
– Roy Gutman, How We Missed the Story, Page 128