o The government conclusion:

Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, the terrorist network which he heads, planned and carried out the atrocities on Sept. 11, 2001. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda retain the will and resources to carry out further atrocities; the United Kingdom, and United Kingdom nationals are potential targets; and Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda were able to commit these atrocities because of their close alliance with the Taliban regime, which allowed them to operate with impunity in pursuing their terrorist activity.

Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization with ties to a global network, which has been in existence for over 10 years. It was founded, and has been led at all times, by Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden and al Qaeda have been engaged in a jihad against the U.S. and its allies. One of their stated aims is the murder of U.S. citizens, and attacks on America's allies.

Bin Laden and al Qaeda have been based in Afghanistan since 1996, but have a network of operations throughout the world. The network includes training camps, warehouses, communication facilities and commercial operations able to raise significant sums of money to support its activity. That activity includes substantial exploitation of the illegal drugs trade from Afghanistan.

Bin Laden's al Qaeda and the Taliban regime have a close and mutually dependent alliance. Bin Laden and al Qaeda provide the Taliban regime with material, financial and military support.

They jointly exploit the drugs trade. The Taliban regime allows bin Laden to operate his terrorist training camps and activities from Afghanistan, protects him from attacks from outside, and protects the drugs stockpiles. Bin Laden could not operate his terrorist activities without the alliance and support of the Taliban regime. The Taliban's strength would be seriously weakened without bin Laden's military and financial support. Bin Laden and al Qaeda have the capability to execute major terrorist attacks. o The Sept. 11 attacks

In relation with Sept. 11 attack, we learned that, not long before, bin Laden had indicated he was about to launch a major attack on America. The detailed planning for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 was carried out by one of Bin Laden's close associates. Of the 19 hijackers involved in Sept. 11 attacks, it has been established that the majority had links with al Qaeda. A senior bin Laden associate claimed to have trained some of the hijackers in Afghanistan. The attacks were similar in both their ambition and intended impact to previous attacks undertaken by bin Laden and al Qaeda. They include suicide attackers, coordinated attacks on the same day, the aim to cause maximum American casualties, and total disregard for other casualties, including Muslim. o Facts on bin Laden

In 1989 bin Laden, and others, founded an international terrorist group known as al Qaeda (the Base). At all times he has been the leader of al Qaeda. From 1989 until 1991 Osama bin Laden was based in Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan. In 1991 he moved to Sudan, where he stayed until 1996. In that year he returned to Afghanistan, where he remains.

The Taliban emerged from the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan in the early 1990s. By 1996 they had captured Kabul. They are still engaged in a bloody civil war to control the whole of Afghanistan. They are led by Mullah Omar. In 1996 bin Laden moved back to Afghanistan. He established a close relationship with Mullah Omar, and threw his support behind the Taliban. Bin Laden and the Taliban regime have a close alliance on which both depend for their continued existence. They also share the same religious values and vision.

Bin Laden has provided the Taliban regime with troops, arms, and money to fight the Northern Alliance. He is closely involved with Taliban military training, planning and operations. He has representatives in the Taliban military command structure. He has also given infrastructure assistance and humanitarian aid. Forces under the control of Osama bin Laden have fought alongside the Taliban in the civil war in Afghanistan.

Omar has provided bin Laden with a safe haven in which to operate, and has allowed him to establish terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. They jointly exploit the Afghan drugs trade. In return for active al Qaeda support, the Taliban allow al Qaeda to operate freely, including planning, training and preparing for terrorist activity. In addition the Taliban provide security for the stockpiles of drugs.

The U.S. government had made it clear to the Taliban regime that al Qaeda had murdered U.S. citizens, and planned to murder more. The U.S. offered to work with the Taliban to expel the terrorists from Afghanistan. These talks, which have been continuing since 1996, have failed to produce any results.

In June 2001, in the face of mounting evidence of the al Qaeda threat, the U.S. warned the Taliban that it had the right to defend itself and that it would hold the regime responsible for attacks against U.S. citizens by terrorists sheltered in Afghanistan.

In this, the U.S. had the support of the United Nations. The Security Council, in Resolution 1267, condemned bin Laden for sponsoring international terrorism and operating a network of terrorist camps, and demanded that the Taliban surrender Osama bin Laden without further delay so that he could be brought to justice.

Despite the evidence provided by the U.S. of the responsibility of bin Laden and al Qaeda for the 1998 East Africa bombings, despite the accurately perceived threats of further atrocities, and despite the demands of the United Nations, the Taliban regime responded by saying no evidence existed against bin Laden, and that neither he nor his network would be expelled.

Al Qaeda is dedicated to opposing "un-Islamic" governments in Muslim countries with force and violence. Al Qaeda virulently opposes the U.S.. bin Laden has urged and incited his followers to kill American citizens, in the most unequivocal terms. On 12 October 1996 he issued a declaration of jihad as follows: "The people of Islam have suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice imposed by the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators ...."

In February 1998 he issued and signed a "fatwa" which included a decree to all Muslims: "... the killing of Americans and their civilian and military allies is a religious duty for each and every Muslim to be carried out in whichever country they are until Al Aqsa mosque has been liberated from their grasp and until their armies have left Muslim lands."

On his intention to use nuclear in his war, he disclosed it in an interview printed in the Pakistan newspaper Dawn in November 2001:

"I wish to declare that if America used chemical or nuclear weapons against us, then we may retort with chemical and nuclear weapons. We have the weapons as deterrent."

In two interviews broadcast on U.S. television in 1997 and 1998 he referred to the terrorists who carried out the earlier attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 as "role models". He went on to exhort his followers "to take the fighting to America."

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