Taliban warned bin Laden to step up security after Kandahar hijack: CIA files

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan warned Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to step up his security following the hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight to Kandahar in December 1999, according to declassified intelligence documents released by the CIA.

The warning was mentioned in a Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) presented to then US President Bill Clinton on 3 January 2000. It was among 71 documents released by the CIA on the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The brief said the Taliban had warned bin Laden to increase his security amid concerns that the hostage crisis in Kandahar could be used by unidentified parties or “other governments” to launch an operation against him.

The document also contained a redacted reference suggesting that an unidentified party remained a key supporter of bin Laden.

Indian Airlines Flight 814, travelling from Kathmandu to New Delhi, was hijacked on 24 December 1999 by Harkat-ul Mujahideen terrorists and forced to land in Kandahar, then under Taliban control.

The hostage crisis ended on 31 December after India released three jailed terrorists and handed them over to the Taliban in exchange for the passengers.

The CIA documents also provide details of US intelligence assessments of bin Laden and his network in the years leading up to the 9/11 attacks.

A PDB presented to Clinton on 28 August 1998 said bin Laden intended to carry out attacks in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as India, Pakistan, Uganda and possibly Nigeria.

It added that his established infrastructure in North America, Europe and East Asia lent credibility to reports that US interests in those regions could also be targeted.

An earlier document dated 13 February 1998 said bin Laden and other Islamic extremists had discussed procuring unspecified chemical, biological and nuclear substances from open markets.

The report said bin Laden had legitimate companies, business relationships and a financial network that could assist his pursuit of such weapons.

A PDB dated 10 September 1998 warned that extremists “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city”. However, it also cautioned that available intelligence provided “no conclusive information on Bin Ladin's intentions for future attacks”.

The document said bin Laden had identified striking the US on its own soil in Washington as his preferred option.

Several other PDBs released by the CIA were prepared for then President George W Bush and dealt with the preliminary findings of a US-Yemen investigation into the bombing of the USS Cole in the port of Aden on 12 October 2000.

The final document in the release was dated 12 September 2001, a day after hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.

The situation report described intelligence surrounding bin Laden in the aftermath of the attacks and said there was mounting evidence that Sunni extremists in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf had been aware that bin Laden-directed attacks were imminent.

It also said the existence of a probable operation had been widely known among extremists in Afghanistan and suggested that bin Laden may have relocated to Kabul to avoid conflict with Taliban leaders in Kandahar over his activities.