“Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban on Wednesday [May 30, 2001] said the conviction in New York of four men for the bombing of U.S. embassies was ‘unfair’ and vowed never to hand over Osama bin Laden, accused by the United States of masterminding the attacks. ‘He is a great holy warrior of Islam and a great benefactor of the Afghan people,’ Abdul Anan Himat, a senior official at the Taliban information ministry, said of bin Laden… ‘We won’t hand him over to America under any circumstances.’ ”
– Amir Shah, “Taliban Won’t Hand Over bin Laden,” Associated Press, May 30, 2001