Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network was planning to attack India as a possible target for terrorist attacks years before the 11th September 2001 attacks in the US, per the top-secret document [pdf] prepared for US President Bill Clinton in 1998. The document, accessed by OpIndia, is part of a major release of CIA records marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On 11th September, the agency made 71 intelligence reports public, in what was described as its largest release of 9/11-related records.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, CIA released 71 President's Daily Briefs to give Americans a glimpse into our most sensitive intelligence from the years before and day after one of our Nation's darkest moments.https://t.co/Z2QIjcuvAj pic.twitter.com/N8ZoZ2OvtZ
— CIA (@CIA) September 11, 2026
One of the documents, titled “Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat” and dated 28th August, 1998, listed several countries where US intelligence believed bin Laden intended to carry out attacks. “Bin Laden intends to conduct attacks in Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, especially Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, India, Pakistan, Uganda, and possibly Nigeria,” the brief said.
The document, however, did not mention any particular target in India. It also did not provide a specific date or details of any planned operation. The source of the intelligence remains redacted.
Al-Qaeda network had a global reach
The 1998 assessment said bin Laden could rely on a network of individuals and allied groups operating in at least 60 countries. It also warned that he was looking at options for further attacks against the US and the UK, although no specific targets or timing had been identified.
The CIA said US officials had also helped arrest bin Laden operatives who were allegedly preparing attacks in Tirana, Albania, and possibly Baku, Azerbaijan.
The assessment noted that al-Qaeda’s infrastructure in North America, Europe and East Asia added to concerns that US interests in those regions could also be targeted.
The warning came weeks after the 7th August 1998 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people and brought bin Laden and his organisation under greater focus from US counterterrorism agencies.
India faced a Parliament attack three years later
The CIA document did not establish that the 2001 Parliament attack in India was linked to bin Laden’s 1998 assessment. However, three years after the document was prepared, India witnessed one of its major terror attacks.
On 13th December, 2001, terrorists from Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed stormed the Parliament complex in New Delhi. Nine people, including security personnel and a gardener, were killed. All five attackers were also killed.
The attack took place just three months after the 11th September attacks in the US.
CIA records show warnings before 9/11
The declassified material also includes several warnings issued before the 11th September attacks. These include a July 1998 brief about possible attacks against the US, a December 1998 warning about aircraft hijackings and the 6th August, 2001 presidential brief titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.”
Taken together, the records show that US intelligence had identified bin Laden’s network as a serious and growing threat years before the 9/11 attacks. The 1998 document’s reference to India also shows that the country was already among those considered vulnerable to possible al-Qaeda attacks, although the brief did not identify any specific Indian target or plot.
Bin Laden spent his final years hiding in Pakistan. In 2010, US intelligence traced one of his couriers to a compound in Abbottabad, near Islamabad.
US forces carried out a raid on the compound on 2nd May, 2011, killing bin Laden.
