Afghanistan
Wail and Waleed al-Shehri disappeared after going to Medina, calling their father just once; in the conversation, the brothers were vague about when they would return. Both had expressed interest in joining the jihad in Chechnya, though may have been diverted to Afghanistan. Before disappearing, the Shehri brothers went to Al-Seqley Mosque to swear an oath and commitment to jihad, as did Ahmed al-Nami and Saeed al-Ghamdi. Wail presided over the ceremony, dubbing himself Abu Mossaeb al-Janubi after one of Muhammad's companions.
In March 2000, he left for Pakistan with Waleed and Ahmed al-Nami; later, they went on to Afghanistan. Wail al-Shehri followed the standard path for new al-Qaeda recruits in Afghanistan, spending time in the Khalden training camp and then Al Farouq training camp near Kandahar. Details on how the non-pilot ("muscle") hijackers were chosen for the September 11 attacks are vague, though the hijackers appear to have been selected by senior al-Qaeda leaders in 2000 from the thousands of recruits at training camps in Afghanistan. The most capable and motivated volunteers were at al-Farouq, and Saudi citizens were good candidates, since it would be easy for them to obtain visas to travel to the United States. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet later said that the muscle hijackers were probably told little about their mission in the United States.
Once Wail and the other muscle hijackers completed their training in Afghanistan, they received $2,000 so they could return to Saudi Arabia to obtain new passports and visas. The Shehri brothers may have been assisted by a relative who worked in the Saudi passport office. Wail and Waleed al-Shehri received passports on October 3, 2000, and then obtained United States visas on October 24. On his visa application, Wail al-Shehri provided vague information, stating his employer/school as "South City", and his destination as "Wasantwn". Wail indicated his occupation as "teacher", and that he would be traveling with his brother on a four-to-six month vacation, which would be paid for with Wail's teacher salary. Although he would not be working while on vacation, consular officials nonetheless did not question if the Shehri brothers had the financial means to support themselves while in the United States.
In late 2000, Wail traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler's checks, presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers passed through the United Arab Emirates and purchased traveler's checks, including Majed Moqed, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Ahmed al-Haznawi and Ahmed al-Nami. The 9/11 Commission believes that three of the future muscle hijackers, including Wail and Waleed, traveled in a group from Saudi Arabia to Beirut and then onward to Iran where they could travel through to Afghanistan without getting their passports stamped. An associate of a senior Hezbollah operative is thought to have been on the same flight, although this may have been a coincidence.
Wail al-Shehri appeared together with hijackers Ahmed al-Nami, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi on a video recorded in March 2001, and aired on Al Jazeera in September 2002. Shehri was seen studying maps and flight manuals, but he did not speak in the video; it also included a segment of Abdulaziz al-Omari reading his last will and testament. While in Afghanistan, another video was recorded that showed Shehri reading his last will and testament. This video was released on September 7, 2006.
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