The US covertly trained a 60-strong group of Pakistani commandos to seize Osama bin Laden, but the plan had to be abandoned in 1999 when the Pakistan government was overthrown in a military coup.
The plot, revealed yesterday by the Washington Post and confirmed by diplomatic sources, was set in train less than 12 months after US cruise missiles hit at bases in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan.
It was arranged between the then Pakistani Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, and the Clinton Administration which promised in return to lift sanctions against Pakistan. The commando team was ready to strike.
But Gen Perez Musharaf, who took over, refused to continue the operation despite strong pressure from the US. The Washington Post also reported that the Sudanese government in 1996 offered secretly through "a back channel" to the US to hand over bin Laden to the Saudi authorities for trial, but the US was unable to persuade the Saudis to take up the offer.
