Taliban

It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda’s fund-raising activities.

Bin Ladin provided approximately $10–$20 million per year to the Taliban in return for safe haven.

While the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for al Qaeda

Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates were the only countries that recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

On August 22, the reclusive Mullah Omar told a working-level State Department official that the strikes were counterproductive but added that he would be open to a dialogue with the United States on Bin Ladin’s presence in Afghanistan.

The United States had issued a formal warning to the Taliban, and also to Sudan, that they would be held directly responsible for any attacks on Americans, wherever they occurred, carried out by the Bin Ladin network as long as they continued to provide sanctuary to it.

Pakistani intelligence officers reportedly introduced Bin Ladin to Taliban leaders in Kandahar, their main base of power

will not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qa’ida, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.

former Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

the Taliban, which received support primarily from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The duties imposed on trucks transiting Afghanistan from Pakistan became the Taliban's most important official source of income.

A World Bank study estimated that income to the Taliban from taxing the Afghanistan-Pakistan smuggling trade amounted to U.S.$75 million in 1997.

culminating in September in its greatest victories to date, the seizures of Jalalabad on September 11 and Kabul itself by the end of the month

the government of the kingdom announces it is cutting all of its relations with the Taliban government while affirming that it will keep standing by the Afghan people and will continue its support for everything that will achieve security, stability and prosperity for Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan.

By late 1997, a Taliban delegation visited Unocal’s offices in Sugarland, Texas to meet with company executives.

According to the US Department of Energy , “In January 1998, the Taliban signed an agreement that would allow a proposed 890-mile, $2-billion, 1.9-billion-cubic-feet-per-day natural gas pipeline project led by Unocal to proceed.”

But Unocal now denies that a firm agreement was ever reached .

just a piece of paper that basically said they liked the idea of the project.

On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

None of these demands were met.