Laili Helms was the Taliban's best-known advocate in the West before the 9/11 attacks. Following the attacks, The New York Times described Helms, who is married to a nephew of the former CIA director Richard Helms, as the Taliban's "unofficial liaison to the West". Helms argued that the Taliban had restored order and security to Afghanistan, that some reports of their human rights abuses were exaggerated, and that they did not support Osama Bin Laden but were constrained in dealing with him by nanawatai and Afghan public opinion. After 9/11 she told reporters that she no longer supported the Taliban and had attempted to privately steer them toward more moderate policies. Helms was not personally religious.