“The officials said that at the meeting in Kandahar [Afghanistan], where the delegation arrived this morning [September 17, 2001], the Taliban leaders would be told that they had ‘only a few days’ to hand over Mr. bin Laden or face an eventual American military attack that would almost certainly target the Taliban as well as Mr. bin Laden, and possibly lead to American troops entering Afghanistan. Alternatively, the Taliban would be told, according to those officials, that if they agreed to hand over Mr. bin Laden and his associates and close down all his training camps, the Taliban would be left to continue in power.”
– John F. Burns, “Pakistani Team Giving Afghans an Ultimatum,” The New York Times, Sep. 17, 2001