During the State Department Regular Briefing of September 27, 1996, spokesman Glyn Davies responded to questions about the Taliban’s imposition of strict Islamic law in Afghanistan by saying: ” ‘Remember, we don’t have any American officials in Kabul. We haven’t had them since the Soviets left because we’ve judged it too dangerous to maintain a mission there. So what we’re reacting to for the most part are press reports, reports from others who, in fact, have sources there–in other words, second-, third-hand reports.’ ”
– Steve Coll, Ghost Wars, Page 590