Mohammed Atef - Planning of Further Militant Activity

Planning of Further Militant Activity

In the 1999 Returnees from Albania, he was tried in absentia by an Egyptian court which sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment for his associated with the EIJ. That year, he met repeatedly with Bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at the Al-Matar complex to discuss possible targets for the 9/11 attacks. It was accepted that Atef was the one responsible for organizing the hijackers for the attacks. Near the end of the year, he met with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah and explained they would be undertaking a highly secret operation, in cooperation with Nawaf al-Hazmi whom he named as Rabia al-Makki.

Following the 2000 USS Cole bombing, Atef was moved to Kandahar, Zawahiri to Kabul, and Bin Laden fled to Kabul, later joining Atef when he realised no American reprisal attacks were forthcoming. Whenever al-Qaeda organised games of volleyball, Atef and Bin Laden were forced to be on separate teams since they were both tall, and good players.

In January 2001, in Kandahar, Atef's daughter married bin Laden's 17-year-old son Mohammed; the wedding guests included Osama's mother, al-Jazeera journalist Ahmad Zaidan, a "few" Taliban party members, and about 400 others. Osama recited poetry about the USS Cole bombing, but was upset with his delivery and tried having Zaidan re-record the section before deciding he preferred the earlier version.

That year, Mullah Omar is said to have argued that Bin Laden should not draw further reprisals against Afghanistan by striking the United States again. This led to a schism among al-Qaeda leadership, where Atef sided with Bin Laden, while leaders like Saif al Adel sided with Omar.

He is believed to have given José Padilla money to travel back to Egypt from Afghanistan, to visit his wife. The two then formed a working relationship. He also gave Ramzi bin al-Shibh money to travel from Karachi to Malaysia to meet with Atta. When David Hicks completed his training at al-Farouq, Atef interviewed him about his achievements and asked about the travel habits of Australians, before agreeing to suggest he be moved to the Tarnak Farms training camp.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, and still a fugitive from his U.S. indictment in the 1998 Embassy bombings, Atef appeared on the initial list of the FBI's top 22 Most Wanted Terrorists, which was released to the public by President Bush on October 10, 2001. Debka.com has suggested that Atef led a "elite unit" of militants who captured and killed rival warlord Abdul Haq in October 2001.

In early November 2001, the Taliban government announced they were bestowing official Afghan citizenship on him, as well as Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Saif al-Adl, and Shaykh Asim Abdulrahman.

Described as a "devout" and "very quiet man", Atef was one of the few al-Qaeda leaders to not make public video statements. He is alleged to have written a 180-page manual entitled "Military Studies in the Holy Struggle against Tyrants", and directed Afghan training camps himself.