Osama Bin Laden Considered India Among Potential Attack Locations Before 9/11

However, the document does not identify any particular target in India, a planned date for an attack or details of an operational plot. The source of the intelligence remains redacted.

The CIA assessment said bin Laden could rely on individuals and allied groups in at least 60 countries to carry out attacks.

Al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden had considered India among countries where his network could carry out terrorist attacks years before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, according to a declassified CIA intelligence assessment from 1998. The revelation is part of a newly released collection of CIA President's Daily Briefs made public to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The agency has released more than 100 pages of intelligence material covering the threat posed by bin Laden and his network in the years leading up to 9/11.

A brief dated August 28, 1998, titled “Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat”, listed India along with Pakistan, Egypt, countries in the Arabian Peninsula and Uganda as locations where bin Laden intended to conduct attacks. Nigeria was also mentioned as a possible target.

However, the document does not identify any particular target in India, a planned date for an attack or details of an operational plot. The source of the intelligence remains redacted.

Bin Laden's Network Extended Across 60 Countries

The CIA assessment said bin Laden could rely on individuals and allied groups in at least 60 countries to carry out attacks. The document also noted that bin Laden and other terrorist leaders operating from Afghanistan had survived US missile strikes. Their communications network remained operational, training had resumed at some camps and other facilities were being relocated.

The assessment further said bin Laden was exploring options for additional attacks against the US and the UK, although no specific targets or timing had been identified.

US officials had also helped arrest suspected bin Laden operatives who were preparing attacks in Tirana and possibly Baku, according to the brief.

The CIA said bin Laden's established infrastructure in North America, Europe and East Asia added credibility to reports that US interests in those regions could be targeted.

Brief Came After 1998 US Strikes

The intelligence assessment was prepared shortly after the US launched missile strikes against suspected al-Qaida facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan in August 1998. The strikes followed the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The CIA document said the attacks had failed to dismantle bin Laden's network, with its communications infrastructure still functioning and training activity continuing at some camps. Three years after the 1998 assessment, on September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaida operatives hijacked four passenger aircraft in the US.

Two planes were flown into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York, causing both buildings to collapse. A third aircraft struck the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

The fourth, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers. It is believed to have been heading towards a target in Washington, potentially the White House or the US Capitol. Nearly 3,000 people, including the 19 hijackers, were killed in the attacks.

The 9/11 attacks prompted the US invasion of Afghanistan, where the Taliban had allowed bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders to operate. Bin Laden was eventually killed on May 2, 2011, during a US operation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, ending the nearly decade-long hunt for the al-Qaida founder.

The newly declassified material provides an insight into the global reach of bin Laden's network before 9/11. Its reference to India indicates that the country was among locations considered for possible attacks as early as 1998, although the document does not provide evidence of a specific plot or target in India.