Mansoor Ijaz was involved in unofficial negotiations[REF] between the U.S. and Sudanese governments in 1996 and 1997 to obtain access to Sudan's intelligence files on Osama bin Laden and the early remnants of Al-Qaeda's network there after efforts to extradite bin Laden to the U.S. failed in early 1996.
Capturing bin Laden had been an objective of the U.S. government from the presidency of Bill Clinton until his death in 2011 [REF].