They weren't. They never were behind OBS regarding 9/11. They didn't support it, other than to give him refuge after he was forced to flee Somalia. At the time immediately after 9/11, including our intial incursions into Afghanistan, no one was saying that the Taliban was behind 9/11. To the best if my knowledge, that wasn't even a floated theory at the Pentagon or State. We "knew" it was a Saudi funded/sponsored hit. It was assumed, because of his family connections to the Saudi Govt and Royal Family that it was OBS, but we never really had any concrete evidence beyond a few wire transfers. We originally went in to Afghanistan because the Bush Admin was saying the Taliban was harboring him and refusing to give him up. It wasn't until they told Bush to pack sand when the Admin decided to fully invade. They sent Delta and Team 6 in to garner the supoort from the local warlords and to gather Intel on Taliban troop movements and emplacements, and to find out which warlords were supporting the Taliban. Those same warlords then went on to form the backbone of the Afghan Govt. The fact that the Taliban was in control of Afghanistan was just icing on that cake. I know because I read the DOD, Bush Amdin, and State Dept msg traffic on this subject. I was also privy to a lot of the planning sessions re: NAVY EOD's role as it relates to the overall U.S. Special Forces mission. I was responsible for sending and receiving all msg traffic for my unit, so I had access to ALL the traffic coming in/out, too. As such, I had to read every msg to ensure authenticity of sender, confirmation of receipt, and also all of our replies.

Of course, hindsight being what it is, we really were only there for the opium and rare earth minerals. But the military wasn't being told this at the time. Not even the JCS knew at that time. Whether they ever bothered to later question the mission there, or not is beyond me. But it's clear to me now, that at that time the Bush Admin was lying to EVEYONE about our true mission goals for both AORs. They legitimately believed we were going in to first get OBS, and the secondary mission (which quickly became the primary mission) was to depose and destroy the Taliban. 20 yrs of war and fake news makes the people forget this. But a Vet's memory is quite long. And this particular Vet remembers what he reads.

They weren't. They were n very behind OBS regarding 9/11. At the time, no one was saying that. We originally went in to Afghanistan because the Bush Admin was saying the Taliban was harboring him and refusing to give him up. The fact that the Taliban was in control of Afghanistan was just icing on that cake. I know because I read the DOD, Bush Amdin, and State Dept msg traffic on this subject. I was responsible for sending and receiving all msg traffic for my unit, so I had access to ALL the traffic coming in/out.

If course, hindsight being what it is, we really were only there for the opium and rare earth minerals. But the military wasn't being told this at the time. Not even the JCS. They legitimately believed we were going in to first get OBS, and the secondary mission (which quickly became the primary mission) was to depose and destroy the Taliban. 20 yrs of wat and fake news makes the people forget this. But a Vet's memory is quite long.