Before the 9/11 attacks took place, the Deputies Committee was already considering using U.S. covert action to overthrow the Taliban. “By the end of a deputies meeting on September 10 [2001], officials formally agreed on a three-phase strategy.” The final phase said that if the Taliban’s policy did not change, “the United States would try covert action to topple the Taliban’s leadership from within.”
– 9/11 Commission, The 9/11 Commission Report, Page 206