Center for Afghanistan Studies has hosted Taliban leaders.

Byline: (Repeating for those needing. By Michael J. Berens

chael J. Berens

Peering at the 60-foot-high faces of four of America's most famous presidents, the dozen robed and bearded Afghans drew little attention at the base of Mount Rushmore in July 1999.

Only bullet and shrapnel scars beneath their heavy attire were clues that these improbable visitors were militia commanders, some with ties to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network.

For the next five weeks, the men were feted at private parties, escorted on tours of other local landmarks, including a school and hospital, and given cash for a shopping mall excursion where most bought scented soaps and silk stockings.

And just as quietly as they had arrived, the group was shepherded back to Afghanistan _ all expenses paid courtesy of the U.S. government and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Since 1986, spanning the early years of post-Soviet occupation to the oppressive regime of the Taliban, the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the Omaha commuter campus has served as a back door for U.S. intelligence efforts to expose Afghan leaders to American ideas and democracy.

Even as the anti-Taliban rhetoric in Washington grew harsher in the 1990s, the university center provided a softer approach to foreign policy, an approach that was often awkward, occasionally controversial and ultimately a failure.

The university hosted parties for the Taliban and then filed briefings to the U.S. Department of State. School officials distributed thousands of schoolbooks to Afghan children that reflected a government-approved version of history depicting women as second-class citizens. Encouraged by Washington, the school worked with a U.S. oil company to try to persuade the Taliban to grant valuable oil pipeline rights in Afghanistan.

The goal was to provide Afghan leaders, particularly members of the Taliban, a "taste of America" in the hope that they might become U.S. allies.

The Afghans continued their trips to America even after sanctions against the Taliban were implemented by the U.S. and other nations. In November 1997, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright harshly criticized Taliban leaders as sadistic killers who nailed enemies to village walls and stoned uncovered women. One month later, eight key Taliban members, including its foreign minister, toured the U.S., stopping in Nebraska and Houston, where they visited NASA headquarters.

They also visited Washington, where State Department officials tried to reinforce Albright's views. "We wanted to take advantage to convey this message…