2000 “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” manifesto that “a new Pearl Harbor” would be vital to rapidly transform the US military into one capable of carrying out that agenda of invading multiple countries.
https://en.wikipedia(Please use archive.today)/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century#:~:text=Rebuilding%20America's%20Defenses%20recommended%20establishing,security%20environment%22%20in%20key%20regions%2C
At least part of the background to this decision was the United States’ long-time support for UNOCAL’s proposed pipeline, which would transport oil and natural gas from the Caspian Sea region to the Indian Ocean through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
https://en.wikipedia(Please use archive.today)/wiki/Turkmenistan%E2%80%93Afghanistan%E2%80%93Pakistan%E2%80%93India_Pipeline
This project had been stymied through the 1990s because of the civil war that had been going on in Afghanistan since the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.
In the mid-1990s, the US government had supported the Taliban with the hope that its military strength would enable it to unify the country and provide a stable government, which could protect the pipeline. By the late 1990s, however, the Clinton administration had given up on the Taliban.
When the Bush administration came to power, it decided to give the Taliban one last chance. During a four-day meeting in Berlin in July 2001, representatives of the Bush administration insisted that the Taliban must create a government of “national unity” by sharing power with factions friendly to the United States. The US representatives reportedly said: “Either you accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs.”
https://www.theguardian(Please use archive.today)/world/2001/sep/22/afghanistan.september113
And, indeed, given the fact that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon occurred when they did, the US military was able to mobilize to begin its attack on Afghanistan by October 7.
It appears, therefore, that the United States invaded Afghanistan for reasons far different from the official rationale, according to which we were there to capture or kill Osama bin Laden
The FBI admitted on June 5 2006 that “the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/fbi-says-no-hard-evidence-connecting-bin-laden-to-9-11/2623
On February 6th 2021, the Taliban made a statement. That they would protect the proposed pipeline.
https://eurasianet(Please use archive.today)/taliban-vows-to-guarantee-safety-of-trans-afghanistan-gas-pipeline
On the 30th of August 2021, the US Forces unilaterally pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving the Taliban with millions of dollars of Military equipment.