re: Plausible Bin Laden or 9/11 Conspiracies or Secrets

Read "Ghost Wars" and "Charlie Wilson's War", if you haven't already. You'll probably find them interesting and informative.

Regarding CIA operations against the Soviets in Afghanistan:
Under the agreement the CIA made with Pakistan, all funding, weapons and supplies were to be funneled through ISI (Inter Services Intelligence, Pakistan's
version of the CIA) and the CIA were prohibited from operating independently in Afghanistan. Any weapons or tactics training provided by the US to the mujahideen was to be overseen by the ISI and conducted in the Peshawar tribal region of Pakistan. Pakistan decided which muj warlords, typically ethnic Pashtuns, received support and in what quantities. This is how guys like Hekmaytar and Haqquani built of huge arsenals and had tons of supplies, while others of different ethnicities, like Masood, received little or nothing in the way of support. This also played heavily into the problem of tracking down unused Stinger AA missiles after the Soviets pulled out. The ISI distributed them to their preferred warlords and the CIA had to just trust them, even though they knew that neither the ISI or the muj were completely trustworthy.