alternatehistory.com

As it says on the tin.
OTL, we had the US and Kabul going back and forth regarding handing over Osama... and we know what happened.
His eventual escape from Tora Bora... and almost 20 years of insanity.

Most likely the Taliban isn't going to just hand over Osama; mostly for political reasons, as the country was very pro-Osama. Mullah Omar was quite adamant that as bin Laden had asked for protection, they weren't going to give him up.
However... "...high ranking Taliban officials attempted to persuade Omar and made offers to the United States through its contacts with Pakistan..."

So let's say the upper Taliban leadership is convinced they need to get bin Laden out, as they know what America is capable of... So instead of risking internal dissent, Osama's location is quietly leaked to US sources in Pakistan, and a strategic strike is able to knock him out, with Afghan media loudly proclaiming his death/martyrdom to the world.

With Osama dead (and proven dead) before the invasion even happens OTL, would it still happen?
Would we still go into Iraq?
Would we be able to use the quiet cooperation between Kabul and DC to help the Taliban reform?

I'd like to think a very early resolution and elimination of bin Laden would butterfly away the worst happenings of the last two decades; as I still remember seeing news footage from around the world with sympathy pouring in from pretty much everyone.

Would this enable the US to avoid the complete destruction of the American image around the world?
Or was there so much blood-lust going around that even a quick and early revenge extracted against bin Laden not going to save things?
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