Al Qaeda absorbed costs related to the plot before the hijackers arrived in the United States, although our knowledge of the funding during this period remains somewhat murky. According to plot leader Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM), the Hamburg cell members (Muhamad Atta, Marwan al Shehhi, Ziad Jarrah, and Ramzi Binalshibh) each received $5,000 to pay for their return from Afghanistan to Germany in late 1999 or early 2000, after they had been selected to join the plot, and the three Hamburg pilots also received additional funds for travel from Germany to the United States. Once the nonpilot muscle hijackers received.
