He spent eight years working as a clerk for the International Bank of Yemen before traveling to Germany in 1995.
In the mid-1990s, bin al-Shibh moved as a student to Hamburg, where he allegedly became close friends with Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan al-Shehhi.
Binalshibh who, like Bin Laden's father, comes from the Yemeni province of Hadramaut, became one of Bin Laden's favorites during a two-month stay in Afghanistan. In fact, according to Sheik Mohammed, Binalshibh was appointed "Coordinator of the Operations of Holy Tuesday" by Al Qaeda leadership.
While being interrogated by the Americans, Binalshibh prided himself in the role he played in the attacks, claiming that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were "legitimate targets, because they were military targets." After all, he said, the enemy's infrastructure as well as its political and economic symbols must be destroyed in a war. He also said that September 11th by no means marked the end of this war, and that the terrorists intended to keep attacking until America became "the land under water." Then, according to Binalshibh, it would be possible to "kill all its inhabitants."
Binalshibh was the decisive link in the chain, serving as the connecting point between Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan and the Hamburg cell surrounding suicide pilot Mohammed Atta. Binalshibh gave Atta the targets and personally informed Bin Laden about the precise date of the deadly attacks. From his base in Hamburg, Binalshibh controlled the flow of funds and coordinated the supporters. He always had several cell phones in his pocket, none of them registered under his own name.