Taliban Told U.S. to Kill Osama in '98

As I recall, the U.S. had a different president back in 1998.

From the Daily Times.com.pk:

During a meeting between an American diplomat and a Taliban official in 1998, the latter suggested that one way of dealing with Osama Bin Laden “would be for the US to kill him or arrange for Bin Laden to be assassinated”.

This is one of the revelations found in US government documents released last week. The US diplomat who met Taliban official Wakil Ahmed, an aide to Mulla Omar, was Alan Eastham Jr, the No 2 man at the US embassy in Islamabad. More than one meeting took place between the two in November and December of 1998, three years before the 9/11 attacks.

The documents declassified Thursday indicate that bin Laden was clearly Washington's priority in 1998. Unfortunately, it appears that nothing substantive was undertaken to get him until after 9/11.