:salam2:
In conversation with former British Defence Secretary Michael Portillo, two-time Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto said Osama bin Laden was initially pro-American. Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, has also stated that bin Laden appreciated the United States’ help in Afghanistan. On CNN’s Larry King program he said:
**Bandar bin Sultan: This is ironic. In the mid-'80s, if you remember, we and the United - Saudi Arabia and the United States were supporting the Mujahideen to liberate Afghanistan from the Soviets. He [Osama bin Laden] came to thank me for my efforts to bring the Americans, our friends, to help us against the atheists, he said the communists. Isn’t it ironic?
Larry King: How ironic. In other words, he came to thank you for helping bring America to help him.
Bandar bin Sultan: Right.
**
According to Iranian state-owned Press TV, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, who has been fired from the agency for disclosing sensitive information, has claimed the United States was on intimate terms with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, using them to further certain goals in Central Asia.
According to author David N. Gibbs "a considerable body of circumstantial evidence suggests … direct Agency support for Bin Laden’s activities."Both Bin Laden and the CIA “held accounts in the Bank for Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).” “Bin Laden worked especially closely with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar” who Gibbs calls “the CIA’s favored Mujahiddin commander”. Gibbs quotes Le Monde as saying bin Laden was “recruited by the CIA” in 1979 Associated Press as saying a former bin Laden aide told them that in 1989 the U.S. shipped high-powered sniper rifles to a Mujahiddin faction that included bin Laden, and Jane’s Intelligence Review as stating Bin Laden “worked in close association with U.S. agents” in raising money for the Mujahiddin from “vast family connections” near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.