Bin Laden considered targeting India and other countries in 1998: CIA documents

Home News World The CIA release confirms the 9/11 Commission findings that U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were warned numerous times of an Al Qaeda attack before 9/11Updated - September 12, 2026 10:57 pm IST - LONDON Supporters of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shout anti-American slogans, after the news of his death, during a rally in Quetta on May 2, 2011. | Photo Credit: Reuters India features among the list of countries that former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had at one point considered targeting, as per the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The revelation is part of the CIA’s release on Friday (September 11, 2026) of more than 100 pages of material across 69 intelligence briefs to former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks by al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001 in New York City.9/11 attacks: Photos that defined the day of terrorAn American flag flies near the base of the destroyed world trade center in new york, September 11, 2001. Planes crashed into each of the two towers, causing them to collapse. Emergency personnel work in the debris of the World Trade Centre in New York, Wednesday, September 12, 2001. Rescue workers dug for bodies in mountains of rubble as the city struggled to recover from an airborne attack on the World Trade Centre on Tuesday that shut down the nation’s financial capital and created a new skyline etched in terror.Rescue workers and vehicles are deployed near the site of the World Trade Centre in New York, Wednesday, September 12, 2001.Combo TV images show a tower of the World Trade Centre collapsing after two planes crashed into the complex on September 11, 2001, destroying New York’s mighty twin towers. The 9/11 attack's "falling man" was one of the most iconic and haunting images, depicting a person falling headfirst from the north tower of New York’s World Trade Centre on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Smoke, flames and debris erupt from one of the World Trade Centre towers as a plane strikes it on September 11, 2001. The first tower was already burning following a terror attack minutes earlier. Terrorists crashed planes into the two buildings, causing both towers to collapse.The south tower of the World Trade Centre bursts into flames after being struck by United Airlines Flight 175 in New York on September 11, 2001. With the Brooklyn Bridge in the foreground, a plane explodes after hitting the second tower of the World Trade Centre as the other tower burns, in New York, September 11, 2001. Both towers of the complex collapsed after hijacked planes hit them.The remaining tower of New York’s World Trade Centre, Tower 2, dissolves in a cloud of dust and debris about a half hour after the first Twin Tower collapsed September 11, 2001. The pictures were taken from across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey.Firemen work around the World Tade Center after both towers collapsed in New York on September 11, 2001. The kamikaze airplane attacks that destroyed New York’s World Trade Centre and damaged the Pentagon on Tuesday were unprecedented in the history of civil aviation, security experts said.In this September 11, 2001 photo made by the New York City Police Department and provided by ABC News, smoke and ash engulf lower Manhattan after terrorists flew two airliners into the World trade Centre towers. A rescue helicopter surveys damage to the Pentagon as firefighters battle flames after an airliner crashed into the building in this September 11, 2001, file photo.The World Trade Centre in New York City burns as a police helicopter flies nearby early September 11, 2001. Both towers were hit by planes crashing into the building. Shortly after this photo was taken, both towers fell.Firefighters and emergency personnel remove debris from the site of the World Trade Centre towers’ collapse in New York, September 13, 2001.An original piece of the Twin Towers, known as a "trident," is lowered into its permanent location at the 9/11 Memorial Museum at ground zero in New York, Tuesday, September 7, 2010. Behind the "trident" is One World Trade Center, still under construction. Firefighters raise a flag late in the afternoon on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, in the wreckage of the World Trade Centre towers in New York. In the most devastating terrorist onslaught ever waged against the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Centre, toppling its twin 110-story towers.Photos of victims of the attacks of September 11, and messages from their loved ones, are shown at a news conference on September 10, 2012 in New York. On the eve of the September 11 anniversary, the faces and recorded voices of those who died were unveiled as part of the future 9/11 Memorial Museum.A family member of an Israeli victim of the September 11 attacks, points to the victim's name, engraved on a monument, during a memorial event at the 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in Jerusalem on September 11, 2016. 1/3The 28 August 1998 memo says Bin Laden and other terrorist leaders survived the U.S. strike (in Afghanistan). It adds that the al-Qaeda leader intended to conduct attacks in Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula — especially Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Pakistan, Uganda and possibly Nigeria.The documents demonstrate that the CIA had warned the Presidents, multiple times, of a possible attack from bin Laden during the September 1998 – September 2001 period for which documents have been released. That attacks were being planned is not a new revelation; rather, the CIA documents confirm the major conclusion of the 2004 ‘9/11 Commission’ report. That report had concluded al-Qaeda was planning attacks on the U.S. Those warnings were not heeded for a combination of reasons, including a lack of capabilities, imagination as well as management and policy priorities.See this infographic story on the September 11, 2001 attacks.A September 1998 brief released on Friday (September 12) says that Bin Laden’s preferred target was U.S. soil and included a potential plan to “fly and explosive packed-plane into a U.S. city”.The same September 1998 brief says “the Kashmir militant group Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM) is coordinating with Bin Laden to attack US, British and French interests” , with the location redacted.An August 2001 memo is titled ‘Bin Ladin [sic] Determined to Strike in US’. Published - September 12, 2026 10:29 pm ISTSign in to unlock member-only benefits!Access 10 free stories every monthSave stories to read laterAccess to comment on every storySign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single clickGet notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products