Thanks for the flag on the old link. Holy sites are certainly an issue. Bin Laden once said that having U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia, where the holiest Muslim sites are, was a key element in the founding of al Qaeda. On the other hand, he has also mentioned Israel, Lebanon, and a host of other reasons for hating our guts, and I suspect that if they didn't exist, he would make others up. Bin Laden is basically interested in the extinction or conversion of all that do not live the way he thinks people ought to live. Of course he isn't the first such person in history by any means, and they come from all creeds and cultures. But history teaches that trying to find a "middle ground" with such people doesn't work.

Afghanistan was basically ruled by the terrorists themselves, and I think they probably took being routed out of there personally even if there were no holy sites there.