[throwaway0a5e]

>Bin Laden in cooperation with the US and then hope the ramifications from Bin Laden's people are minimal and the US is satisfied to then leave you alone.

They could have negotiated the kinds of overt military support CIA installed South American despots could only dream of for the low, low price of treating Al Qaeda the way western democracies who are accountable to western voters could never treat them.

With the US's "aid" they could have consolidated power over the nation and legitimized themselves on the world stage. All they had to do was say "we'll turn over the terrorists but we need your help". We'd have gladly held our noses and given them training and equipment so long as they rooted out Al Qaeda. Of course the Taliban didn't want to be a puppet state or a client state. But we didn't want to engage in nation building. It would have been a perfect one night stand.

Hindsight is 20-20.