Bin Laden considered targeting India and other countries in 1998: CIA documents
Newly released CIA documents reveal that Osama bin Laden considered targeting India, among other nations, in 1998. The records, released on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, confirm that intelligence agencies had warned of al-Qaeda's global ambitions years prior.
Why it matters
These documents provide historical context on the evolution of global terrorism and the intelligence failures leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
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 25 th anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks by al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001 in New York City.
The 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.
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