“On August 22 [1998], the reclusive [Taliban leader] Mullah [Mohammad] Omar told a working-level State Department official that the strikes [against Bin Ladin on August 20] were counterproductive but added that he would be open to a dialogue with the United States on Bin Ladin’s presence in Afghanistan.” However, when the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, William Milam, met in Islamabad, Pakistan, with Taliban delegates, they said, “it was against their culture to expel someone seeking sanctuary but asked what would happen to Bin Ladin should he be sent to Saudi Arabia.”
– 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 121