Pakistan and the $100,000

On 9 October 2001 the Times of India reported, citing Indian sources, that Indian help had led the FBI to evidence that $100,000 was wired to Mohamed Atta by Ahmed Umar Sheikh “at the instance of” General Mahmud Ahmed, head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. [1] Dawn carried a similar account that day, linking Mahmud’s departure to his ties to Sheikh. [2]

Mahmud was visiting Washington at the time of the attacks. In the days after, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met him and Pakistan’s ambassador and pressed Pakistan to side with the United States. [3]

The Commission put the plot’s cost at $400,000 to $500,000 and wrote that “the origin of the funds remains unknown.” [1] Its staff traced about $300,000 that passed through the hijackers’ U.S. accounts, much of it wired from the United Arab Emirates by Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. [2]

In 2003 the FBI’s John Pistole told Congress the funding had been traced back to accounts in Pakistan, according to the Times of India. The reported testimony did not mention Sheikh or the ISI. [3]