 Idris says an imam at the al-Khayr Mosque in Sanaa convinced him to travel to Afghanistan to teach the Quran in 1999.Idris says he did travel to Afghanistan, and spent eight months teaching the Quran at the al Raham Mosque in Kandahar but denied ever taking any military training or participating in hostilities.He described fleeing the American Bombardment of Afghanistan, traveling alone, to Khowst on November 15, 2001.