According to CNN journalist Peter Bergen, known for conducting the first television interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997, The story about bin Laden and the CIA-that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden-is simply a folk myth.
Marc Sageman, a Foreign Service Officer who was based in Islamabad from 1987-1989, and worked closely with Afghanistan's Mujahideen, states that no American money went to the foreign volunteers.