President Bill Clinton spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in June 1999, with the intentions of getting Pakistan to pressure the Taliban to stop sheltering Bin Ladin. Sharif suggested “that Pakistani forces might try to capture Bin Ladin themselves. Though no one in Washington thought this was likely to happen, President Clinton gave the idea his blessing.” When Clinton and Sharif met on July 9, 1999, “Sharif came back to his earlier proposal and won approval for U.S. assistance in training a Pakistani special forces team for an operation against Bin Ladin. Then, in October 1999, Sharif was deposed by General Pervez Musharraf, and the plan was terminated.”
– 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission, Page 126