9/11 was one of the most traumatic events in U.S. history. But in many ways it proved to be an even greater disaster for Pakistan. In its immediate aftermath, Pervez Musharraf agreed to support the U.S. war on terror. He felt he had little choice; his government had been closely allied to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan that had provided sanctuary to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda forces. It had tried but failed to convince Taliban leader Mullah Omar to turn bin Laden over. Now it was time to pay the piper.
Pakistan stood aside as U.S-led military operations drove retreating Taliban and al-Qaeda forces onto Pakistani territory. And Islamabad helped the U.S. track down several senior al-Qaeda operatives, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who had taken refuge in urban Pakistan even though this cost them the allegiance of most of the Pakistani jihadists they had been using to fight their proxy war in Kashmir against Indian rule. These former tools of Pakistani foreign policy began conspiring with al-Qaeda on efforts to assassinate Pervez Musharraf and other senior Pakistani officials.
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