In 1996, he travelled to Tajikistan and then Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where he first met Osama bin Laden.[20] Bin Laden attempted to convince al-Nashiri to join al-Qaeda at this point, but he refused because he found the idea of swearing a loyalty oath to bin Laden to be distasteful. After al-Nashiri travelled to Yemen, he is alleged to have begun to consider committing terrorist actions against United States interests.[20]