A Taliban spokesperson says there's no proof Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was behind the various attacks against the US on September 11, adding that the US used him as an 'excuse' to invade Afghanistan in 2001.
'When Osama Bin Laden became an issue for the Americans, he was in Afghanistan,' said Zabihullah Mujahid in an interview aired on NBC Nightly News Wednesday in which he promised the country will no longer be a safe haven for terrorists.
'Although there was no proof he was involved, now we have given promises that Afghan soil won't be used against anyone.'
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made the comments on NBC Nightly News Wednesday
Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden admitted to planning the September 11 attacks in a 2004 taped statement, but a Taliban spokesman says there's 'no proof' he was behind the attacks
Mujahid was then pressed further by NBC journalist Richard Engel, who said: 'So it sounds like, even now, after all this, you're accepting no responsibility?'
He answered: 'There is no evidence. Even after 20 years of war we have no proof he was involved.'
'There was no justification for this war, it was excuse for war.'
Mujahid make the remarks despite Bin Laden admitting to ordering the attacks in 2004.
'To the American people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another Manhattan,' he said in a taped statement in which he urged Americans to stay out of Middle East affairs.
'I tell you: Security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security.'
The hijackings of September 11 killed 3,000 people, most of them at the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan
A 9/11 Commission report concluded that the '9/11 attack was driven by Osama bin Laden,' according to Fox News.
'As final preparations were under way during the summer of 2001, dissent emerged among Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan over whether to proceed,' the report said.
'The Taliban's chief, Mullah Omar, opposed attacking the United States. Although facing opposition from many of his senior lieutenants, [bin Laden] effectively overruled their objections, and the attacks went forward.'
The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after Al-Qaeda, founded and led by Osama bin Laden, planned the airplane hijacks that killed a total of 2,977 people at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, the World Trade Center in New York City and in Pennsylvania.
Al Qaeda was based in Afghanistan at the time, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Days after the attacks, then-President George W. Bush called on the Taliban to turn in the Al Qaeda leaders responsible. Bin Laden managed to flee Afghanistan, and was killed by a team of Navy SEALs in May 2011 after he was found to be hiding in Pakistan.
'The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate,' he said on September 20.
President George W. Bush called on the Taliban to turn in al-Qaeda leaders responsible for the attacks. Al-Qeda was based in Afghanistan at the time
The US military and British forces began a bombing campaign against the Taliban on October 7, 2001.
Now, almost 20 years later, the US is withdrawing from the Central Asian nation by President Joe Biden's deadline of August 31.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan for five years until the US invaded in 2001. They're now back in charge after they stormed the presidential palace in the Afghan capital of Kabul on August 15, sending Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing to the United Arab Emirates.
The White House revealed today that over the last 24 hours, 42 American flights dealt with the bulk of evacuations - transporting 11,200 from Kabul - meaning the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 87,900 people on U.S. military and coalition flights since the end of July.
The US is focused on vulnerable people, such as women and girls, who were oppressed during the previous Taliban regime, and on those who helped the US and Afghan militaries against the Taliban during the war.
On Wednesday, Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, also told the New York Times that the regime was pleading with Afghans not to leave the country.
'We don't want our countrymen to go to America. Whatever they've done in the past, we have given them amnesty. We need young educated professionals in our nation, but if they want to leave it's their choice.'
He also told women not to worry, claiming that reports that the Taliban are going around marrying girls as young as 12 as spoils of war are unfounded.
'They are our sisters, we must show them respect, they should not be frightened,' he said.
'Women should be proud of us, not scared. This is propaganda from the old regime. We have no evidence of a single case (of marrying girls).'
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