David Davis, the former Conservative shadow home secretary, said how a row between the CIA and FBI could have prevented them from uncovering the 9/11 terrorist plot, the Daily Telegraph reported.

He said that American authorities had "sealed" a case in a US court relating to a dispute between two British businessmen and an Afghan billionaire Ehsan Bayat over the setting up of a mobile phone network in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

According to reports, US intelligence agencies had privately backed the venture, hoping to be able to monitor calls made over the new network. Mr Bayat was an FBI informer, Mr Davis said.

"We cannot say for certain that if US intelligence agencies had tapped the Afghan phone network sooner, we would have intercepted evidence in time to stop the 9/11 attacks. But it seems likely," Mr Davis said. "It looks like a huge opportunity was missed."

(China.org.cn March 30, 2012)

據英國《每日電訊報》報道，英國保守黨前任影子內政大臣戴維·戴維斯近日透露，由于中央情報局和美國聯邦調查局發生了分歧，導致美國政府未能揭露9·11恐怖襲擊的陰謀。

他表示，上世紀90年代，兩名英國商人和阿富汗億萬富翁艾山·巴亞特在阿富汗共同投資建立了一家電信公司。此后，雙方發生爭執，美國法院受理了這起案件。但是美國當局卻將這起案件的內容“隱藏”起來。

據透露，該公司獲得了美國情報機構的秘密支持。美方希望可以對阿富汗國內的電話通訊進行監控。戴維斯稱，艾山·巴亞特是美國聯邦調查局的線人。

“我們不能確定，如果美國情報機構能早點開始監控阿富汗電話通訊，就一定可以及時阻止9·11襲擊的發生。但事實是，美國的確錯過了阻止襲擊的大好機會。”戴維說。