Osama bin Laden had Taliban rival assassinated 2 days before 9/11 attack
Ahmad Shah Massoud, a key Afghan resistance leader, was assassinated by al-Qaeda operatives posing as journalists just two days before the September 11 attacks. The killing was orchestrated by Osama bin Laden to eliminate a major military threat and secure favor with his Taliban hosts ahead of the planned U.S. strikes.
Why it matters
The assassination removed a critical U.S. ally in Afghanistan on the eve of 9/11, complicating early American efforts to organize a resistance against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Ahmad Shah Massoud, the prominent Afghan resistance leader and one of the Taliban's strongest rivals, was assassinated on September 9, 2001, just two days before the 9/11 attacks, in a killing believed to have been ordered by al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden as a favour to his Taliban hosts, according to a Newsweek report.Massoud, who led Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, was killed while being interviewed at his camp in the Panjshir Valley by two men posing as Belgian television journalists. The two al-Qaeda operatives had concealed explosives inside a video camera despite undergoing security checks before meeting the resistance leader, Newsweek reported.The Northern Alliance did not officially confirm Massoud's death until September 15.Massoud had built a powerful insurgent network in northern Afghanistan and remained a major obstacle to Taliban control of the country.
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