“In August 2001, [future President of Afghanistan] Hamid Karzai, along with two other prominent Pashtun emigres, Abdul Haq and Gen. Rahim Wardak (who was to become Afghan defense minister in 2004), went to London to meet with British officials. Karzai’s message was simple: Osama bin Laden was making key decisions for the Taliban, and al Qaeda was fully embedded in the Taliban government. MI6, British intelligence, was keen to foment unrest in the Pashtun belt, but it remained skeptical of the capacity of these three visitors to do so.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 20