Khashoggi was acquainted with Osama bin Laden in the 1980s and 1990s in Afghanistan while bin Laden was championing his jihad against the Soviets . Khashoggi interviewed bin Laden several times , usually meeting bin Laden in Tora Bora , and once more in Sudan in 1995 . According to '' The Washington Post '' columnist David Ignatius , " Khashoggi could n't have traveled with the mujahideen that way without tacit support from Saudi intelligence , which was coordinating aid to the fighters as part of its cooperation with the CIA against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan . ... Khashoggi criticized Prince Salman , then governor of Riyadh and head of the Saudi committee for support to the Afghan mujahideen , for unwisely funding Salafist extremist groups that were undermining the war . " Al Arabiya reported that Khashoggi once tried to persuade bin Laden to quit violence . Khashoggi said : " I was very much surprised in 1997 to see Osama turning into radicalism the way he did . " Khashoggi was the only non-royal Saudi Arabian who knew of the royals ' intimate dealing with al-Qaeda in the lead-up to the September 11 attacks . He dissociated himself from bin Laden following the attacks
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Jamal Khashoggi