Capturing Osama bin Laden had been an objective of the United States government since the presidency of Bill Clinton . Shortly after the September 11 attacks it was revealed that President Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA ( and specifically their elite Special Activities Division ) to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the United States to stand trial after the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa ; if taking bin Laden alive was deemed impossible , then deadly force was authorized . On August 20 , 1998 , 66 cruise missiles launched by United States Navy ships in the Arabian Sea struck bin Laden 's training camps near Khost in Afghanistan , missing him by a few hours . In 1999 the CIA , together with Pakistani military intelligence , had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden , but the plan was aborted by the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état ; in 2000 , foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of vehicles in which bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan , hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which bin Laden was riding
1998 United States embassy bombings
1998 United States embassy bombings
Osama bin Laden