Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf met Taliban supremo Mullah Omar in April 2000 to convince him to expel Osama bin Laden but failed, according to a declassified report released by the commission investigating the September 11 attacks.It said the meeting took place at the request of former US President Bill Clinton after he raised the issue during his visit to Pakistan in 2000.‘‘The Pakistanis asked for evidence that bin Laden had really ordered the US embassy bombings (in East Africa) a year and a half earlier. In a follow-up meeting the next day with Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, President Musharraf argued that Pakistan had only limited influence over the Taliban,’’ the commission report said.Despite these reservations, Musharraf ‘‘did meet Mullah Omar and did urge him to get rid of bin Laden,’’ it said.In early June 2000, according to the report, Pakistan’s interior minister went to Kandahar with Pickering and delivered a message to Taliban officials. But the Taliban seemed immune to such pleas, it observed, adding that Pakistan still did not threaten to cut off help to the Taliban.The report also provided so far classified information about joint US-Saudi efforts to influence the Taliban on this issue. These attempts, including meetings between the Saudi intelligence chief and Mullah Omar, failed in 1998. Pakistan, however, did not sever its relations with the Taliban. The Pakistani position was that their government had to support the Taliban and that the only way forward was to try and moderate their behaviour.The Afghan and Pakistani dilemmas were handed over to the Bush administration as it took office in 2001, the report said. The National Security Council counter-terrorism staff, led at that time by Richard Clarke, who has accused President Bush of ignoring the Al Qaeda threat in a new book, advocated secret assistance to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.By 2001, US officials had evolved a strategy on Afghanistan that included options ranging from seeking a deal with the Taliban to overthrowing the regime. The review also concluded that the US should attempt to improve relations with Pakistan. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, whose testimony had so far been kept secret, recalled telling Pakistani foreign minister Abdul Sattar the Afghanistan issue could severe bilateral ties. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage acknowledged to the commission that before 9/11, the new strategy towards Pakistan had not yet been implemented. After 9/11, ‘‘Pakistan was confronted with a direct choice: You are either with us or against us. Musharraf made his choice,’’ Armitage said.
