View source for Osama bin Laden

{{Short description|Founder of al-Qaeda (1957–2011)}}
{{Redirect2|ObL|Bin Laden|other uses|OBL (disambiguation)|and|Bin Laden (disambiguation)}}
{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
<!--Do NOT add citations to the lead, except for material likely to be challenged, per [[MOS:LEADCITE]] ([[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section#Citations)]]. Move unneeded citations to the body.-->{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Osama bin Laden
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{lang|ar|أسامة بن لادن}}}}
| native_name_lang    = ar
| office              = 1st General [[Emir]] of [[al-Qaeda]]
| image               = Osama bin Laden portrait.jpg
| caption             = Bin Laden, {{circa|1997–1998}}
| alt                 = Head shot of Bin Laden
| term_start          = 11 August 1988
| term_end            = 2 May 2011
| predecessor1        = ''Position established''
| successor1          = [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]]
| birth_name          = Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1957|3|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place         = [[Riyadh]], Saudi Arabia
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2011|5|2|1957|3|10|df=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Abbottabad]], Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
| death_cause         = [[Killing of Osama bin Laden|Gunshot wounds to the head and chest (U.S. forces targeted killing)]]
| resting_place       = [[Arabian Sea]]
| citizenship         = {{ubl|Saudi Arabia (until 1994)|[[Statelessness|Stateless]] (from 1994)}}
| education           = [[King Abdulaziz University]] ([[Bachelor of Business Administration|BBA]])
| father              = [[Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden]]
| mother              = [[Hamida al-Attas]]
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Najwa Ghanem]]|1974|2001|end=separated}}
* {{Marriage|Khadijah Sharif|1983|1990s|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|Khairiah Sabar|1985}}
* {{Marriage|Siham Sabar|1987}}
* {{Marriage|Amal Ahmed al-Sadah|2000}}
}}
| children            = Around 20 to 26, including [[Abdallah bin Laden|Abdallah]], [[Saad bin Laden|Saad]], [[Omar bin Laden|Omar]], and [[Hamza bin Laden|Hamza]]
| relatives           = [[Bin Laden family]]
| blank1              = [[Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden|Religion]]
| data1               = [[Sunni Islam]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Pakistan's Enduring Challenges |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxtrBgAAQBAJ |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |date=18 February 2015 |isbn=978-0-8122-4690-2 |first1=C. Christine |last1=Fair |first2=Sarah J. |last2=Watson |page=246 |quote=Osama bin Laden was a hard-core Salafi who openly espoused violence against the United States in order to achieve Salafi goals. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131203102/https://books.google.com/books?id=XxtrBgAAQBAJ |archive-date=31 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Roads to Reconciliation: Conflict and Dialogue in the Twenty-first Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDzfBQAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |date=18 December 2014 |isbn=978-1-317-46076-3 |first1=Amy Benson |last1=Brown |first2=Karen M. |last2=Poremski |page=81 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131203102/https://books.google.com/books?id=MDzfBQAAQBAJ |archive-date=31 January 2016}}</ref><ref>Osama bin Laden (2007) Suzanne J. Murdico</ref><ref name=Karen>{{cite news |last=Armstrong |first=Karen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jul/11/northernireland.july7 |title=The label of Catholic terror was never used about the IRA |work=The Guardian |date=11 July 2005 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226235515/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2005/jul/11/northernireland.july7 |archive-date=26 December 2016 }}</ref>
| blank4              = Jurisprudence
| data4               = [[Hanbali]]
| allegiance          = {{plainlist|
* [[Maktab al-Khidamat]] (1984–1988)
* [[Al-Qaeda]] (1988–2011)
}}
| serviceyears        = 1984–2011
| rank                = General [[Emir]] of al-Qaeda
| battles             = {{Tree list}}
* [[Soviet–Afghan War]]
** [[Battle of Jaji]] {{WIA}}
* [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|Afghan Civil War]]
** [[Battle of Jalalabad (1989)|Battle of Jalalabad]]
* [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|War in Afghanistan]]
** [[Fall of Kabul (2001)|Fall of Kabul]]
** [[Battle of Tora Bora]]
** [[Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]
** [[Operation Neptune Spear]]{{KIA}}
{{Tree list/end}}
}}
{{Osama bin Laden series}}
'''Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Osama Bin Laden from Saudi Arabia pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg|oʊ|ˈ|s|ɑː|m|ə|_|b|ɪ|n|_|ˈ|l|ɑː|d|ə|n}}, {{respell|oh|SAH|mah}} {{respell|bihn}} {{respell|LAH|dehn}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tedder |first=Jim |date=2013 |title=Voice of America pronunciation of "Osama Bin Laden" from the region of Saudi Arabia |url=https://pronounce.voanews.com/?id=734 |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=[[Voice of America]]}}</ref> Full name in {{langx|ar|أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن|translit=Usāma bin Muḥammad bin ʿAwaḍ bin Lādin}}, {{IPA|ars|ʔu.saː.ma ben laː.din}}.}} (10 March 1957{{snd}}2 May 2011) was the founder and first general [[emir]] of [[al-Qaeda]]. Ideologically a [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]], Bin Laden participated in the [[Afghan mujahideen|Afghan ''mujahideen'']] during the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] of the 1980s, and supported the [[Bosnian mujahideen|Bosnian ''mujahideen'']] during the [[Bosnian War]] of the 1990s. Opposed to [[United States foreign policy in the Middle East|American foreign policy]] in the [[Middle East]], Bin Laden [[Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places|declared war]] on the [[United States]] in 1996 and supervised numerous terrorist attacks in various countries, including the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001 in the U.S.

Born in [[Riyadh]] to the aristocratic [[bin Laden family]], he studied at Saudi and foreign universities until 1979, when he joined the ''mujahideen'' fighting against the Soviet invasion of [[Afghanistan]]. In 1984, he co-founded [[Maktab al-Khidamat]], which recruited foreign ''mujahideen'' into the war. As the Soviet war in Afghanistan came to an end, Bin Laden founded al-Qaeda in 1988 to carry out worldwide ''[[jihad]]''. In the [[Gulf War]], Bin Laden's offer of support to Saudi Arabia against [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] was rejected by the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]], which instead sought [[Coalition of the Gulf War|American aid]].

[[Political views of Osama bin Laden|Bin Laden's views]] on pan-Islamism and [[anti-Americanism]] resulted in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991. He shifted his headquarters to [[Republic of the Sudan (1985–2019)|Sudan]] until 1996, when he established a new base in Afghanistan, where he was supported by the [[Taliban]]. Bin Laden declared [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden|two]] ''[[fatāwā]]'' in August 1996 and February 1998, declaring [[Religious war|holy war]] against the U.S. After al-Qaeda's [[1998 United States embassy bombings|bombings of U.S. embassies]] in [[East Africa]], which killed hundreds of civilians, he was indicted by a U.S. district court and listed on the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists|Most Wanted Terrorists]] and [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives|Most Wanted Fugitives]] lists. In October 1999, the [[United Nations]] designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization.

Bin Laden organized the September 11 attacks, which [[Casualties of the September 11 attacks|killed nearly 3,000 people]]. This resulted in the [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|U.S. invading Afghanistan]] and launching the [[war on terror]]. Bin Laden became the subject of a nearly decade-long [[Manhunt for Osama bin Laden|international manhunt]] led by the U.S. During this period, he hid in the mountains of Afghanistan and later escaped to neighboring [[Pakistan]]. On 2 May 2011, Bin Laden [[Killing of Osama bin Laden|was killed]] by U.S. special operations forces at [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|his compound]] in [[Abbottabad]]. His corpse was buried in the [[Arabian Sea]] and he was succeeded by his deputy [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] on 16 June 2011. During his lifetime, Bin Laden was considered a war hero by many within the [[Islamist movement]] due to his role in opposing the [[Soviet occupation of Afghanistan|Soviet]] and [[US War in Afghanistan|American]] interventions in Afghanistan. In the West and elsewhere, he is widely seen as a global symbol of terrorism and reviled as a mass murderer due to his orchestration of numerous terrorist attacks.

== Name ==
{{Further|Romanization of Arabic}}
Bin Laden's name is most frequently rendered as "Osama bin Laden". The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA), as well as other U.S. governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or the accepted transliteration "Usama bin Ladin".{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

Osama bin Laden's full name, Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of Awad, son of Laden".<ref name="Davies2018">{{Cite book |last1=Davies |first1=William D. |last2=Dubinsky |first2=Stanley |year=2018 |title=Language Conflict and Language Rights: Ethnolinguistic Perspectives on Human Conflict |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=74 |isbn=978-1-107-02209-6 }}</ref> "Mohammed" refers to Bin Laden's father Mohammed bin Laden; "Awad" refers to his grandfather, Awad bin Aboud bin Laden, a Kindite [[Hadhrami people|Hadhrami]] tribesman. Aboud's father was Ali, whose father was Omar. The family includes many individuals over a [[bin Laden family#Family tree|number of generations]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}

He was named {{transliteration|ar|Usama}}, meaning "lion", after [[Usama ibn Zayd]], one of the [[companions of the Prophet|companions]] of [[Muhammad]].{{Sfn|Scheuer|2011|p=21}} Osama bin Laden had assumed the {{transliteration|ar|[[kunya (Arabic)|kunya]]}} (teknonym) {{transliteration|ar|Abū ʿAbdallāh}}, meaning "father of [[Abdallah bin Laden|Abdallah]]" The Arabic [[natural language|linguistic]] convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "Bin Laden" alone, as "Bin Laden" is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. According to one of his sons [[Omar bin Laden|Omar]], the family's hereditary surname is {{transliteration|ar|[[al-Qahtani (disambiguation)|āl-Qaḥṭānī]]}}, but Bin Laden's father, [[Muhammad bin Ladin]], never officially registered the name.<ref>{{cite book |last1=bin Laden |first1=Najwa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RcBwm5b8VbAC |title=Growing up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World |last2=bin Laden |first2=Omar |last3=Sasson |first3=Jean |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-312-56016-4 |location=New York |page=301 |author-link=Najwa Ghanem |author-link2=Omar bin Laden |author-link3=Jean Sasson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407011237/http://books.google.com/books?id=RcBwm5b8VbAC |archive-date=7 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
{{Main|Personal life of Osama bin Laden}}
{{See also|Bin Laden family}}
[[File:Bin Ladin.jpg|thumb|The [[bin Laden family]], who run the [[Saudi Binladin Group]] (''Saudi Arabian headquarters pictured''), has connections to the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]].]]
Osama bin Laden was born on 10 March 1957 in [[Riyadh]], Saudi Arabia.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |date=29 December 2006 |title=Usama bin Laden |url=https://rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=Bin_Laden |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061229161128/http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/index.cfm?page=Bin_Laden |archive-date=29 December 2006 |website=[[Rewards for Justice]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Frontline: Hunting Bin Laden: Who is Bin Laden?: Chronology |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060210192537/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |archive-date=10 February 2006 |access-date=26 May 2010 |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref> His father was [[Muhammad bin Ladin]],<ref name=":7">{{cite news |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |date=7 February 2008 |title=Yemen still close to al Qaeda's heart |newspaper=Asia Times Online |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html |url-status=unfit |access-date=6 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702080545/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JB07Ak01.html |archive-date=2 July 2016}}</ref><ref name="strozier">{{Cite book |last1=Strozier |first1=Charles B. |title=The Leader: Psychological Essays |last2=Offer |first2=Daniel |last3=Abdyli |first3=Oliger |date=24 May 2011 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-1-4419-8387-9}}</ref> a [[Yemenis|Yemeni]]-born billionaire construction magnate with close ties to the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html |title=Osama bin Laden |publisher=infoplease |last=Johnson |first=David |access-date=26 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120224312/http://www.infoplease.com/spot/osamabinladen.html |archive-date=20 January 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> and his mother was Mohammed bin Laden's tenth wife, [[Syrian]] [[Hamida al-Attas]] (then called Alia Ghanem).<ref name="newyorker.com">{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact |title=Letter From Jedda: Young Osama- How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America|magazine=The New Yorker |last=Coll|first=Steve |date=12 December 2005 |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117190909/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact |archive-date=17 January 2010 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Scheuer|2011}} Despite it being generally accepted that Bin Laden was born in Riyadh, his birthplace was listed as [[Jeddah]] in the initial FBI and [[Interpol]] documents.<ref name=":2">{{cite web |title=Osama bin Laden Part 01 of 03 |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/osama-bin-laden/Osama%20Bin%20Laden%20Part%2001%20of%2003/view |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date=10 December 2021 |archive-date=3 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103004104/https://vault.fbi.gov/osama-bin-laden/osama-bin-laden-part-1-of-1/view |url-status=live }}</ref>

Mohammed bin Laden divorced Hamida soon after Osama bin Laden was born. Mohammed recommended Hamida to Mohammed al-Attas, an associate. Al-Attas married Hamida in the late 1950s or early 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Mysterious Death of Osama bin Laden |url=http://votebits.com/tag/osama-bin-laden-histery |date=3 August 2011 |access-date=4 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425135504/http://votebits.com/tag/osama-bin-laden-histery/ |archive-date=25 April 2012 }}</ref> The couple had four children, and Bin Laden lived in the new household with three half-brothers and one half-sister.<ref name="newyorker.com" /> The Bin Laden family made $5&nbsp;billion in the construction industry, of which Osama later inherited around $25–30&nbsp;million.<ref>"[https://www.economist.com/obituary/2011/05/05/osama-bin-laden Osama bin Laden] ", ''[[The Economist]]'', 5 May 2011, p. 93.</ref>

Bin Laden was raised as a devout [[Sunni]] Muslim.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Beyer |first=Lisa |url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html |magazine=Time |title=The Most Wanted Man in the World |date=24 September 2001 |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010916125854/http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/wosama.html |archive-date=16 September 2001 }}</ref> From 1968 to 1976, he attended the elite [[Al-Thager Model School]].<ref name="newyorker.com" /><ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006|p=52}}</ref> Bin Laden attended an English-language course in [[Oxford]], England, during 1971.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1595205.stm |title=Bin Laden's Oxford days |work=BBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904170856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1595205.stm |archive-date=4 September 2017 |date=12 October 2001}} in, {{cite web |last1=Burke |first1=Jason |first2=Shaheen |last2=Kareem |title=This article is more than 2 years old Bin Laden's disdain for the west grew in Shakespeare's birthplace, journal shows |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/01/newly-released-journal-confirms-osama-bin-laden-visited-the-west |website=[[The Guardian]] 1 November 2017 20.50 GMT |date=November 2017 |publisher=[[Guardian News & Media Limited]] |access-date=9 March 2020 |archive-date=2 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171102232947/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/01/newly-released-journal-confirms-osama-bin-laden-visited-the-west |url-status=live }}</ref> He studied [[economics]] and [[business administration]]<ref>''[[Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden]]'', Verso, 2005, p. xii.</ref> at [[King Abdulaziz University]]. Some reports suggest he earned a degree in [[civil engineering]] in 1979,<ref>{{citation|url=http://galenet.galegroup.com/ |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement|volume=22 |publisher=Gale Group |date=2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518084513/http://galenet.galegroup.com/ |archive-date=18 May 2008|url-access=subscription}}</ref> or a degree in [[public administration]] in 1981.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html |title=A Biography of Osama bin Laden |publisher=PBS Frontline |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329153133/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/bio.html |archive-date=29 March 2010 }}</ref> One source described him as "hard working";<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10855 |title=The Real Osama |work=The American Prospect |date=19 January 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430133236/http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=10855 |archive-date=30 April 2008 |last=Hug |first=Aziz |access-date=6 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> another said he left university during his third year without completing a college degree.<ref name="gunaratna-22">{{Cite book |title=Inside Al Qaeda |last=Gunaratna|first=Rohan |publisher=Berkley Books |year=2003 |edition=3rd |page=[https://archive.org/details/insidealqaedaglo00guna/page/22 22] |isbn=0-231-12692-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/insidealqaedaglo00guna/page/22 }}</ref>

At university, Bin Laden's main interest was religion, where he was involved in both "interpreting the [[Quran]] and ''[[jihad]]''" and charitable work.{{Sfn|Wright|2006|p=79}} Other interests included writing poetry; reading, with the works of Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]] and [[Charles de Gaulle]] said to be among his favorites; black [[stallion]]s; and [[association football]], in which he enjoyed playing at [[Centre-forward|centre forward]] and followed the English club [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7630934.stm |title=Analysing Osama's jihadi poetry |work=BBC News |last=Hirst |first=Michael |date=24 September 2008 |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930075727/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7630934.stm |archive-date=30 September 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/osama-bin-ladens-bodyguard-i-had-orders-126430 |title=Osama bin Laden's bodyguard: I had orders to kill him if the Americans tried to take him alive |work=Daily Mirror |date=4 May 2011 |access-date=20 April 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610184157/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/osama-bin-ladens-bodyguard-i-had-orders-126430 |archive-date=10 June 2012}}</ref> During his studies in Jeddah, Bin Laden became a pupil of the influential Islamist scholar [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam]] and avidly read his treatises. He also read the writings of several [[Muslim Brotherhood]] leaders and was highly influenced by the Islamic revolutionary ideas advocated by [[Sayyid Qutb]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klausen |first=Jytte |title=Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-19-887079-1 |edition=1st |location=Oxford, UK |pages=44, 45}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
{{Main|Personal life of Osama bin Laden}}
[[File:Bin Laden Family Tree EN.png|thumb|Osama Bin Laden's wives and children]]
At age 17 in 1974, Bin Laden married [[Najwa Ghanem]] at [[Latakia]], Syria;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-13-mn-3564-story.html |title=Osama Kin Wait and Worry |last=Slackman |first=Michael |date=13 November 2001 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090926011904/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/13/news/mn-3564 |archive-date=26 September 2009 }}</ref> however, they were later separated and she left Afghanistan on 9 September 2001, two days before the 9/11 attacks.<ref>{{cite book|title=Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama's Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World|author= Najwa bin Laden, [[Omar bin Laden]], Jean Sasson|page=414}}</ref> His other known wives were Khadijah Sharif (married 1983, divorced 1993); Khairiah Sabir (married 1985); Siham Sabir (married 1987); and Amal al-Sadah (married 2000). Some sources also list a sixth wife, name unknown, whose marriage to Bin Laden was annulled soon after the ceremony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/osama.many.wives |title=Bin Laden's wives – and daughter who would 'kill enemies of Islam' |publisher=CNN Edition: International |last1=Todd |first1=Brian |last2=Lister |first2=Tim |date=5 May 2011 |access-date=5 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506085949/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/osama.many.wives/ |archive-date=6 May 2011 }}</ref> Bin Laden fathered 24 children with his wives.<ref>The 24 children are listed accurately in Peter L. Bergen, ''The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 2021, pp. x-xi, the first 20 of them are listed in Najwa bin Laden, Omar bin Laden and Jean Sasson, ''Growing Up Bin Laden: Osama’s Wife and Son Take Us Inside Their Secret World'', New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010, pp. 294-300, and 19 of them are also detailed in various places in Cathy Scott-Clark & Adrian Levy, ''The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Flight'', New York: Bloomsbury, 2017, as can be seen in the index on pp. 601-604, including the four missing from the Sasson book.</ref> Many of Bin Laden's children fled to Iran following the September 11 attacks, and {{as of|lc=y|2010}} Iranian authorities closely controlled them there.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7897555/Osama-bin-Ladens-family-stranded-in-Iran-son-says.html |title=Osama bin Laden's family 'stranded' in Iran, son says|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=19 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110312025042/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7897555/Osama-bin-Ladens-family-stranded-in-Iran-son-says.html |archive-date=12 March 2011}}</ref>

[[Nasser al-Bahri]], who was Bin Laden's personal bodyguard from 1997 to 2001, details Bin Laden's personal life in his memoir. He describes him as a frugal man and strict father, who enjoyed taking his large family on shooting trips and picnics in the desert.<ref>{{cite book|last=Al-Bahri|first=Nasser |author-link=Nasser al-Bahri|title=Guarding Bin Laden: My Life in al-Qaeda|date=June 2013 |pages=150–160 |publisher=Thin Man Press |place=London|isbn=978-0-9562473-6-0}}</ref>

Bin Laden's father Mohammed died in 1967 in an airplane crash in Saudi Arabia when his American pilot Jim Harrington<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4581571&page=1 |title=Blood Brothers: Could Osama Have Been Tamed? |publisher=ABC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093302/https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4581571&page=1 |archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref> misjudged a landing.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544921,00.html |title=Interview with US Author Steve Coll: 'Osama bin Laden is Planning Something for the US Election' |work=Der Spiegel |access-date=26 January 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213044611/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,544921,00.html |archive-date=13 February 2011 |date=2 April 2008 }}</ref> Bin Laden's eldest half-brother, [[Salem bin Laden]], the subsequent head of the Bin Laden family, was killed in 1988 near [[San Antonio]], Texas, in the U.S., when he accidentally flew a plane into power lines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.woai.com/content/news/newslinks/story/Best-of-the-Web-Osamas-Brother-Died-in-San/fQByftuKL0WrEDALXrJ7EA.cspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113114003/http://www.woai.com/content/news/newslinks/story/Best-of-the-Web-Osamas-Brother-Died-in-San/fQByftuKL0WrEDALXrJ7EA.cspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 January 2012 |title=Best of the Web: Osama's Brother Died in San Antonio, Red Velvet Onion Rings-WOAI: San Antonio News |date=13 January 2012 }}</ref>

The FBI described Bin Laden as an adult as tall and thin, between {{convert|6|ft|4|in|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} and {{convert|6|ft|6|in|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} in height and weighing about {{convert|160|lb|kg|order=flip}},<ref>{{Cite web |title=Osama bin Laden |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/osama-bin-laden |access-date=2024-03-31 |website=www.fbi.gov}}</ref> although author [[Lawrence Wright]], in his book on [[al-Qaeda]], ''[[The Looming Tower]]'', writes that a number of Bin Laden's close friends confirmed that reports of his height were greatly exaggerated, and that he was actually "just over {{convert|6|ft|m}} tall".{{Sfn|Wright|2006|p=83}} After his death, he was measured to be roughly {{convert|6|ft|4|in|m|order=flip|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Schmidle |first1=Nicholas |title=Getting Bin Laden |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/08/getting-bin-laden |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=1 August 2011 |access-date=14 September 2021 |archive-date=25 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190825094218/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/08/08/getting-bin-laden |url-status=live }}</ref> Bin Laden had an [[Olive skin|olive complexion]] and was left-handed, usually walking with a cane. He wore a plain white [[keffiyeh]]. At one point, he stopped wearing the traditional Saudi male keffiyeh and instead wore the traditional Yemeni male keffiyeh.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060310055924/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 March 2006 |title=Most Wanted Terrorist – Usama bin Laden |publisher=FBI |access-date=8 June 2006}}</ref> He was described as soft-spoken and mild-mannered in demeanor.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3570751.stm |title=I met Osama bin Laden |work=BBC News |access-date=15 May 2006 |date=26 March 2004 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316162620/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3570751.stm |archive-date=16 March 2006}}</ref>

== Political views ==
{{Main|Political views of Osama bin Laden}}

According to former CIA analyst [[Michael Scheuer]], who led the CIA's hunt for Bin Laden, Bin Laden was motivated by a belief that [[US foreign policy|U.S. foreign policy]] has oppressed, killed, or otherwise harmed Muslims in the Middle East.<ref name="Scheuer 2004 9">{{cite book |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |title=Imperial Hubris |publisher=Brassey's, Inc. |year=2004 |location=Dulles, Virginia |page=[https://archive.org/details/imperialhubriswh00anon/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialhubriswh00anon|url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-9655139-4-4 |quote=The focused and lethal threat posed to U.S. national security arises not from Muslims being offended by what America is, but rather from their plausible perception that the things they most love and value—God, Islam, their brethren, and Muslim lands—are being attacked by America.}}</ref> As such, the threat to U.S. national security arises not from al-Qaeda being offended by what the U.S. is but rather by what the U.S. does, or in the words of Scheuer, "They (al-Qaeda) hate us (Americans) for what we do, not who we are."<ref name="Scheuer 2004 256">{{cite book |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |title=Imperial Hubris |publisher=Brassey's, Inc. |year=2004 |location=Dulles, Virginia |page=[https://archive.org/details/imperialhubriswh00anon/page/256 256] |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialhubriswh00anon|url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-9655139-4-4 |quote=Because Muslim leaders—with bin Laden in the van—repeatedly have told us that they hate Americans for what we do and not for what we think, look like, talk about...}}</ref> Nonetheless, Bin Laden criticized the U.S. for its [[secular]] form of governance, calling upon Americans to convert to Islam and reject the immoral acts of [[:wikt:fornication|fornication]], [[homosexuality]], [[Psychoactive drug|intoxicants]], [[gambling]], and [[usury]], in a letter published in late 2002.<ref name="Letter2002" />

Bin Laden believed that the Islamic world was in crisis and that the complete restoration of [[Sharia]] law would be the only way to set things right in the Muslim world. He opposed such alternatives as secular government,<ref name=Letter2002 /> as well as [[pan-Arabism]], [[socialism]], [[communism]], and [[democracy]].<ref>''Messages'', 2005, p. 218. "Resist the New Rome", audiotape delivered to al-Jazeera and broadcast by it on 4 January 2004.</ref> He subscribed to the [[Athari]] (literalist) school of [[Schools of Islamic theology|Islamic theology]].<ref name=Halverson-80>{{cite book |last=Halverson |first=Jeffry R. |title=Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ash'arism, and Political Sunnism |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80 |quote=It was there that he met the Athari-Wahhabite militant Osama bin Laden ... |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093302/https://books.google.com/books?id=IYzGAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=#v=onepage&q=osama&f=false |archive-date=1 January 2016|isbn=978-0-230-10658-1 }}</ref>

These beliefs, in conjunction with violent ''jihad'', have sometimes been called [[Qutbism]] after being promoted by [[Sayyid Qutb]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm |title=Qutbism: An Ideology of Islamic-Fascism |journal=[[Parameters (journal)|Parameters]] |last=Eikmeier |first=Dale C. |pages=85–98 |date=Spring 2007 |access-date=26 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609120804/http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/parameters/07spring/eikmeier.htm |archive-date=9 June 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bin Laden believed that Afghanistan, under the rule of [[Mullah Omar]]'s [[Taliban]], was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.<ref>''Messages'', (2005), p. 143. from an interview published in ''[[Al-Quds Al-Arabi]]'' in London, 12 November 2001 (originally published in Pakistani daily, ''[[Ausaf]]'', 7 Nov.)</ref> Bin Laden consistently dwelt on the need for violent ''jihad'' to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the U.S. and sometimes by other non-Muslim states.<ref>''Messages to the World'', (2005), pp. xix–xx, editor Bruce Lawrence.</ref> In his ''[[Letter to the American people|Letter to the American People]]'' published in 2002, Bin Laden described the formation of the [[Israeli state]] as "a crime which must be erased" and demanded that the United States withdraw all of its civilians and military personnel from the [[Arabian Peninsula]], as well as from all [[Dar al-islam|Muslim lands]].<ref>{{cite news |date=24 November 2002 |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |newspaper=The Guardian |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |url-status=bot: unknown |access-date=2019-01-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008120001/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver |archive-date=8 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Full text: bin Laden's 'letter to America' |url=https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/218e2431-0b76-43ff-8ac5-284ae73d29ad/content |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014061421/https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/218e2431-0b76-43ff-8ac5-284ae73d29ad/content |archive-date=14 October 2023}}</ref>

His viewpoints and methods of achieving them had led to him being designated as a terrorist by scholars;<ref>{{cite book|last=Randal |first=John |title=Osama: The Making of a Terrorist|publisher=I B Tauris & Co Ltd |year=2005}}</ref><ref>''A Capitol Idea'' Donald E. Abelson p. 208.</ref> journalists from ''[[The New York Times]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/nationalspecial3/08padilla.html |title=Mysteries, Legal and Sartorial, at Padilla Trial |work=The New York Times |last=Goodnough |first=Abby |date=8 July 2007 |access-date=26 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105211631/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/us/nationalspecial3/08padilla.html |archive-date=5 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/after-the-attacks-the-strategy-a-new-war-and-its-scale.html |title=After the attacks: the strategy; A New War And Its Scale |work=The New York Times |last=Gordon|first=Michael R. |author-link=Michael R. Gordon |date=17 September 2001 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201104026/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/17/world/after-the-attacks-the-strategy-a-new-war-and-its-scale.html |archive-date=1 December 2010 }}</ref> the [[BBC]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7412036.stm |title=Is global terror threat falling? |work=BBC News |date=21 May 2008 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216203549/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7412036.stm |archive-date=16 February 2010 }}</ref> and Qatari news station [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]];<ref>{{cite web |title="Osama bin Laden's operation" has "perpetrated the worst act of terrorism ever witnessed on U.S. soil |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2008/08/20088161083773835.html |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=17 August 2008 |access-date=11 February 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605084335/http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2008/08/20088161083773835.html |archive-date=5 June 2011 }}</ref> and analysts such as [[Peter Bergen]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006}}</ref> Michael Scheuer,<ref>{{Harvnb|Scheuer|2002}}</ref> [[Marc Sageman]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Sageman|first=Marc |author-link=Marc Sageman|title=Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century|jstor=j.ctt3fhbht|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|year=2008|doi=10.2307/j.ctt3fhbht |isbn=978-0-8122-4065-8 }}</ref> and [[Bruce Hoffman]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rand.org/publications/randreview/issues/spring2004/ceo.html|title=Redefining Counterterrorism: The Terrorist Leader as CEO |work=RAND Review |last=Hoffman|first=Bruce |author-link=Bruce Hoffman |date=Spring 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040528181019/http://www.rand.org/publications/randreview/issues/spring2004/ceo.html|archive-date=28 May 2004}}</ref><ref>''A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, Weapons Of Mass Destruction, And Rogue States'' Peter Brookes Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.</ref> He was indicted on terrorism charges by law enforcement agencies in [[Madrid]], New York City, and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]].<ref name="interpol">{{cite web |url=http://www.interpol.int/public/data/wanted/notices/data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20080303070940/http://www.interpol.int/public/Data/Wanted/Notices/Data/1998/32/1998_20232.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 March 2008 |title=Wanted: bin Laden, Usama |publisher=[[Interpol]] |access-date=3 September 2011}}</ref>

Bin Laden supported the targeting of American civilians, in retaliation against U.S. troops indiscriminately attacking Muslims. He asserted that this policy could deter U.S. troops from targeting Muslim women and children. Furthermore, he argued that all Americans were complicit in the crimes of their government due to majority of them electing it to power and paying taxes that fund the U.S. military.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bin Laden |first=Osama |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Lawrence |editor-first=Bruce |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |pages=70, 119 |chapter=Declaration of Jihad}}</ref> According to [[Noah Feldman]], Bin Laden's assertion was that "since the United States is a democracy, all citizens bear responsibility for its government's actions, and civilians are therefore fair targets."<ref name="nyt-2006-2-122">{{Cite news |last=Feldman |first=Noah |author-link=Noah Feldman |date=12 February 2006 |title=Becoming Bin Laden |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/books/review/becoming-bin-laden.html |url-status=live |access-date=12 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914055806/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/books/review/becoming-bin-laden.html |archive-date=14 September 2019}}</ref>

Two months after the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 attacks]], Bin Laden stated during an interview with Pakistani journalist [[Hamid Mir]]:<blockquote>"According to my information, if the enemy occupies an Islamic land and uses its people as [[human shields]], a person has the right to attack the enemy. ... The targets of September 11 were not women and children. The main targets were the symbol of the United States: their economic and military power. Our [[Prophet Muhammad]] was against the killing of women and children. When he saw the body of a non-Muslim woman during a war, he asked what the reason for killing her was. If a child is older than thirteen and bears arms against Muslims, killing him is permissible."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bin Laden |first=Osama |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Lawrence |editor-first=Bruce |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |pages=140 |chapter=Declaration of Jihad}}</ref></blockquote>Bin Laden's overall strategy for achieving his goals against much larger enemies such as the [[Soviet Union]] and U.S. was to lure them into a long [[Attrition warfare|war of attrition]] in Muslim countries, attracting large numbers of jihadists who would never surrender. He believed this would lead to [[economic collapse]] of the enemy countries, by "bleeding" them dry.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/index.html |title=Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.|publisher=CNN |date=2 November 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305091629/http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/01/binladen.tape/index.html |archive-date=5 March 2016 }}</ref> Al-Qaeda manuals express this strategy. In a [[2004 Osama bin Laden video|2004 tape]] broadcast by Al Jazeera, Bin Laden spoke of "bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy".<ref>{{cite news |date=1 November 2004 |url=http://english.aljazeera.net/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |title=Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] |access-date=16 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081116092323/http://english.aljazeera.net/archive/2004/11/200849163336457223.html |archive-date=16 November 2008}}</ref>

A number of errors and inconsistencies in Bin Laden's arguments have been alleged by authors such as [[Max Rodenbeck]] and [[Noah Feldman]]. He invoked democracy both as an example of the deceit and fraudulence of [[Western world#Modern political|Western political system]]—American law being "the law of the rich and wealthy"<ref>''Messages to the World, Statements of Osama bin Laden'', Verso, 2005, p. 168</ref>—and as the reason civilians are responsible for their government's actions and so can be lawfully punished by death.<ref name="Shirazi-2006-listen">{{cite web|last1=Shirazi|first1=S|title=Listening to Bin Laden |url=http://www.printculture.com/item-799.html|website=printculture.com |access-date=29 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061122194233/http://www.printculture.com/item-799.html |archive-date=22 November 2006|date=31 March 2006}}</ref> He denounced democracy as a "religion of ignorance" that violates Islam by issuing man-made laws, but in a later statement compares the Western democracy of Spain favorably to the Muslim world in which the ruler is accountable. Rodenbeck states, "Evidently, [Bin Laden] has never heard theological justifications for democracy, based on the notion that the will of the people must necessarily reflect the will of an all-knowing God."<ref name="Rodenbeck-NYRoB">{{cite magazine |last=Rodenbeck |first=Max |author-link=Max Rodenbeck |date=9 March 2006 |title=Their Master's Voice, [a review of ''Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden''] |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18750?email |url-status=live |magazine=The New York Review of Books |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135020/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2006/03/09/their-masters-voice/ |archive-date=2 December 2020 |access-date=29 March 2018 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Bin Laden was heavily [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]], stating that most of the negative events that occurred in the world were the direct result of Jewish actions. In a December 1998 interview with Pakistani journalist [[Rahimullah Yusufzai]], Bin Laden stated that [[Operation Desert Fox]] was proof that [[Israeli Jews]] controlled the governments of the U.S. and the United Kingdom, directing them to kill as many Muslims as they could.<ref name=Time1999>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,17676,00.html |title=Conversation With Terror |magazine=Time |date=January 1999 |access-date=22 March 2015 |archive-date=5 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205200538/http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,17676,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In a letter released in late 2002, he stated that Jews controlled the civilian media outlets, politics, and economic institutions of the United States.<ref name=Letter2002>{{cite web| url = http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver| title = 6 October 2002. Appeared in Al-Qala'a website and then ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian'' on 24 November 2002.| website = [[TheGuardian.com]]| date = 24 November 2002| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130826184301/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver| archive-date = 26 August 2013}}</ref> In a May 1998 interview with [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]], Bin Laden claimed that the Israeli state's ultimate goal was to annex the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East into its territory and enslave its peoples, as part of what he called a "[[Greater Israel]]".<ref name=May1998>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990508145341/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/who/interview.html |title=frontline: the terrorist and the superpower: who is bin laden?: interview with osama bin laden (in may 1998) |archive-date=8 May 1999 |publisher=pbs.org}}</ref> He stated that Jews and Muslims could never get along, that war was "inevitable" between them, and accusing the U.S. of stirring up [[Criticism of Islam|anti-Islamic sentiment]].<ref name=May1998 /> He claimed that the [[US State Department|U.S. State Department]] and [[US Department of Defense|U.S. Department of Defense]] were controlled by Jews, for the sole purpose of serving the Israeli state's goals.<ref name=May1998 /> He often delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."<ref>''Messages'', (2005), p. 190. from a 53-minute audiotape that "was circulated on various websites" dated 14 February 2003. "Among a Band of Knights"</ref> [[Shia]] Muslims have been listed along with [[heretics]], the United States, and Israel as the four principal enemies of Islam at ideology classes of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=303 "From interview with [[Ali Soufan]] – a [[Lebanese American|Lebanese]] Sunni FBI agent"}}</ref>

Bin Laden was opposed to music on religious grounds,<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=167}}</ref> and his attitude towards technology was mixed. He was interested in earth-moving machinery and [[genetic engineering]] of plants, while rejecting the use of [[chilled water]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=172}}</ref> He also believed [[climate change]] to be a serious threat and penned a letter urging Americans to work with U.S. president [[Barack Obama]] to make a rational decision to "save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Landay |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-binladen-climatechange-idUSKCN0W35MS |title=Bin Laden called for Americans to rise up over climate change |date=1 March 2016 |work=Reuters|access-date=3 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403050528/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-binladen-climatechange-idUSKCN0W35MS |archive-date=3 April 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/2/osama-bin-laden-called-for-americans-to-help-obama/ |title=Osama bin Laden called for Americans to help Obama fight climate change |last=Chasmar |first=Jessica |work=The Washington Times|date=2 March 2016 |access-date=3 April 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403042453/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/mar/2/osama-bin-laden-called-for-americans-to-help-obama/ |archive-date=3 April 2016 }}</ref>

== Militant and political career ==
{{Main|Militant career of Osama bin Laden}}

=== Soviet–Afghan War ===
{{See also|Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden}}After leaving college in 1979, Bin Laden went to Pakistan, joined Abdullah Yusuf Azzam and used money and machinery from his own construction company to help the ''[[mujahideen]]'' resistance in the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm |title=Who is Osama bin Laden? |work=BBC News |date=18 September 2001 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224201012/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/155236.stm |archive-date=24 December 2008 }}</ref> He later told a journalist: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan."<ref>Interview with Robert Fisk, 22 March 1997, ''The Great War For Civilisation'', 2005, p. 7.</ref> From 1979 to 1992, the U.S. (as part of [[CIA activities in Afghanistan]], specifically [[Operation Cyclone]]), Saudi Arabia, and [[China]] provided between $6–12 billion worth of financial aid and weapons to tens of thousands of ''mujahideen'' through Pakistan's [[Inter-Services Intelligence]] (ISI).<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Steve Coll|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to 10 September 2001]]|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-59420-007-6|pages=144–145, 238}}</ref>

British journalist [[Jason Burke]] wrote: "[Bin Laden] did not receive any direct funding or training from the U.S. during the 1980s. Nor did his followers. The Afghan ''mujahideen'', via Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, received large amounts of both. Some bled to the Arabs fighting the Soviets but nothing significant."<ref>{{cite web |last=Burke |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Burke |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/03/osama-bin-laden-10-myths-cia-arsenal |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=The 10 key myths about Osama bin Laden |date=11 May 2011 |access-date=10 October 2020 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228020631/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/03/osama-bin-laden-10-myths-cia-arsenal |url-status=live }}</ref> Bin Laden met and built relations with [[Hamid Gul]], who was a [[Three-star rank|three-star]] [[Lieutenant General (Pakistan)|general]] in the [[Pakistan Army|Pakistani Army]] and head of the ISI agency. Although the United States provided the money and weapons, the training of militant groups was entirely done by the [[Pakistan Armed Forces]] and the ISI.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hiro|first=Dilip |author-link=Dilip Hiro|date=28 January 1999 |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/cost-afghan-victory?page=0,1 |title=The Cost of an Afghan 'Victory' |magazine=[[The Nation]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302090727/http://www.thenation.com/article/cost-afghan-victory?page=0%2C1 |archive-date=2 March 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Brigadier Mohammad Yousaf, the person in charge of the ISI's Afghan operations at the time, it was a strict policy of Pakistan to prevent any American involvement in the distribution of funds or weapons or in the training of the ''mujahideen'', and the CIA officials stayed in the embassy in [[Islamabad]], never entering Afghanistan or meeting with the Afghan resistance leaders themselves.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bergen |first1=Peter L. |title=The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden: The Biography |date=2021 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=43 |isbn=9781982170530 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anp5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |access-date=18 May 2023 |archive-date=18 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518155937/https://books.google.com/books?id=anp5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA43 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to some CIA officers, beginning in early 1980, Bin Laden acted as a liaison between the Saudi [[General Intelligence Presidency]] (GIP) and Afghan warlords; no evidence of contact between the CIA and Bin Laden exists in the CIA archives. [[Steve Coll]] states that although Bin Laden may not have been a formal, salaried GIP agent, "it seems clear that Bin Laden did have a substantial relationship with Saudi intelligence."<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Steve Coll|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=[[Ghost Wars|Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to 10 September 2001]]|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-59420-007-6|pages=72, 87–88}}</ref> Bin Laden's first trainer was [[US Special Forces|U.S. Special Forces]] commando [[Ali Mohamed (double agent)|Ali Mohamed]].<ref name="Cloonan">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline//////torture/interviews/cloonan.html Interview with FBI special agent Jack Cloonan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321123520/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/torture/interviews/cloonan.html |date=21 March 2012}}, ''Frontline'', PBS, 18 October 2005.</ref>

By 1984, Bin Laden and Azzam established [[Maktab al-Khidamat]], which funneled money, arms, and fighters from around the Arab world into Afghanistan. Through al-Khadamat, Bin Laden's inherited family fortune<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=145 "Lawrence Wright estimates his share of the Saudi Binladin Group circa fall 1989 as amounted to 27&nbsp;million Saudi riyals – a little more than [US]$7&nbsp;million."}}</ref> paid for air tickets and accommodation, paid for paperwork with Pakistani authorities and provided other such services for the ''jihadi'' fighters. Bin Laden established camps inside [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] in Pakistan and trained volunteers from across the Muslim world to fight against the Soviet-backed regime, the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]]. Between 1986 and 1987, Bin Laden set up a base in eastern Afghanistan for several dozen of his own Arab soldiers.<ref name="Bergen49">{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006|pp=49–51}}</ref> From this base, Bin Laden participated in some combat activity against the Soviets, such as the [[Battle of Jaji]] in 1987.<ref name="Bergen49" /> Despite its little strategic significance, the battle was lionized in the mainstream Arab press.<ref name="Bergen49" /> It was during this time that he became idolized by many Arabs.<ref name="Fisk-p4">{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=[[The Great War for Civilisation]] |year=2005 |page=4 |author-link=Robert Fisk}}</ref>

=== Allegation of involvement in 1988 Gilgit massacre ===
{{See also|1988 Gilgit massacre}}
In May 1988, responding to rumours of a massacre of Sunnis by Shias, large numbers of Shias from in and around [[Gilgit|Gilgit, Pakistan]] were killed in a massacre.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hunzai |first1=Izhar |title=Conflict Dynamics in Gilgit-Baltistan |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR321.pdf |publisher=United States Institute of Peace |access-date=5 July 2017 |quote=In 1988, a rumor alleging a Sunni massacre at the hands of Shias resulted in an attack by thousands of armed tribesmen from the south, the killing of nearly four hundred Shias |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509172907/https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR321.pdf |archive-date=9 May 2017 }}</ref> Shia civilians were also subjected to rape.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19mPVOBZ_9YC&pg=PA134 |title=The Making of Terrorism in Pakistan: Historical and Social Roots of Extremism |last=Murphy |first=Eamon |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-56526-4 |page=134 |quote=Shias in the district of Gilgit were assaulted, killed and raped by an invading Sunni lashkar-armed militia-comprising thousands of ''jihadis'' from the North West Frontier Province. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003094150/https://books.google.com/books?id=19mPVOBZ_9YC&pg=PA134&dq=gilgit+shias+raped+1988&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiKgvjkm57RAhXLNpQKHZnoCx8Q6AEIGTAA#v=onepage&q=gilgit%20shias%20raped%201988&f=false |archive-date=3 October 2017 }}</ref> The massacre is alleged by [[B. Raman]], a founder of India's [[Research and Analysis Wing]],<ref>{{cite news |title=B Raman, one of RAW founders, passes away |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/b-raman-one-of-raw-founders-passes-away/ |access-date=5 July 2017 |work=The Indian Express |date=17 June 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802041911/http://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/web/b-raman-one-of-raw-founders-passes-away/ |archive-date=2 August 2017 }}</ref> to have been in response to a revolt by the Shias of Gilgit during the rule of military dictator [[Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq|Zia-ul Haq]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-shia-anger/221654 |title=The Shia Anger |last=Raman |first=B |date=7 October 2003 |work=Outlook |quote=Because they have not forgotten what happened in 1988. Faced with a revolt by the Shias of the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), under occupation by the Pakistan Army, for a separate Shia State called the Karakoram State, the Pakistan Army transported Osama bin Laden's tribal hordes into Gilgit and let them loose on the Shias. They went around massacring hundreds of Shias – innocent men, women, and children.|access-date=31 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101001207/http://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-shia-anger/221654 |archive-date=1 January 2017 }}</ref> He alleged that the Pakistan Army induced Osama bin Laden to lead an armed group of Sunni tribals, from Afghanistan and the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|North-West Frontier Province]], into Gilgit and its surrounding areas to suppress the revolt.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/feb/26raman.htm |title=The Karachi Attack: The Kashmir Link |last=Raman |first=B |date=26 February 2003 |work=Rediiff News |quote=A revolt by the Shias of Gilgit was ruthlessly suppressed by the Zia-ul Haq regime in 1988, killing hundreds of Shias. An armed group of tribals from Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier Province, led by Osama bin Laden, was inducted by the Pakistan Army into Gilgit and adjoining areas to suppress the revolt.|access-date=31 December 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510091547/http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/feb/26raman.htm |archive-date=10 May 2017 }}</ref>

=== Formation and structuring of al-Qaeda ===
{{Main|Al-Qaeda}}
[[File:Flag of Jihad.svg|thumb|The flag used by various [[al-Qaeda]] factions]]
By 1988,<ref name="al-Fadl">{{cite court|litigants=United States v. Usama bin Laden et al.|court=[[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York|SDNY]]|reporter=Cr.|vol=S (7) 98|opinion=1023|pinpoint=Testimony of Jamal Ahmed Mohamed al-Fadl|date=6 February 2001|url=http://cryptome.org/usa-v-ubl-02.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024164934/http://cryptome.org/usa-v-ubl-02.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat. While Azzam acted as support for Afghan fighters, Bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2006|pp=74–88}}</ref> Notes of a meeting of Bin Laden and others on 20 August 1988, indicate that al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "Basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make his religion victorious." A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (''[[Bay'at|bayat]]'') to follow one's superiors.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=133–134}}.</ref>

According to Wright, the group's real name was not used in public pronouncements because its existence was still a closely held secret.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=260}}.</ref> His research suggests that al-Qaeda was formed at an 11 August 1988, meeting between several senior leaders of [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]] (EIJ), Azzam, and Bin Laden, where it was agreed to join Bin Laden's money with the expertise of the EIJ and take up the jihadist cause elsewhere after the [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8EqWnqdsgZMC&q=August+11,+1988,+meeting+between+%22several+senior+leaders%22+of+Egyptian+Islamic+Jihad,+Abdullah+Azzam,+and+bin+Laden&pg=PA108 |title=Urban Terrorism : Myths And Realities |first=N. C |last=Asthana |page=108 |publisher=Pointer Publishers |isbn=978-81-7132-598-6 |date=1 January 2009 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135034/https://books.google.com/books?id=8EqWnqdsgZMC&q=August+11%2C+1988%2C+meeting+between+%22several+senior+leaders%22+of+Egyptian+Islamic+Jihad%2C+Abdullah+Azzam%2C+and+bin+Laden&pg=PA108 |url-status=live }}</ref> Others argue that the organization was founded earlier and already existed when the leaders met on 11 August 1988.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hegghammer |first=Thomas |date=2020 |title=The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FfPDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA352 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=352–354 |isbn=978-0-521-76595-4 |doi=10.1017/9781139049375}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamid |first1=Mustafa |author-link1=Mustafa Hamid |last2=Farrall |first2=Leah |date=2015 |title=The Arabs at War in Afghanistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cKeKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |location=London |publisher=Hurst & Company |isbn=978-1-84904-420-2 |pages=108–111}}</ref>

Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero of ''jihad''.<ref name="pbschronology">{{cite web |title=Who is Bin Laden?: Chronology |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414023118/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |archive-date=14 April 2010 |access-date=28 May 2010 |publisher=PBS}}</ref> Along with his Arab legion, he was thought to have brought down the mighty superpower of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=146}}</ref> After his return to Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden engaged in opposition movements to the Saudi monarchy while working for [[Saudi Binladin Group|his family business]].<ref name="pbschronology" /> He offered to send al-Qaeda to overthrow the Soviet-aligned [[Yemeni Socialist Party]] government in [[South Yemen]], but was rebuffed by Prince [[Turki bin Faisal Al Saud|Turki bin Faisal]]. He then tried to disrupt the [[Yemeni unification]] process by assassinating YSP leaders, but was halted by Saudi Interior Minister Prince [[Nayef bin Abdulaziz]] after President [[Ali Abdullah Saleh]] complained to [[Fahd of Saudi Arabia|King Fahd]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|pp=173–176}}</ref> He was also angered by the internecine tribal fighting among the Afghans.<ref name="Fisk-p4" /> However, he continued working with the [[General Intelligence Presidency|Saudi GID]] and the [[Inter-Services Intelligence|Pakistani ISI]]. In March 1989, Bin Laden led 800 Arab foreign fighters during the unsuccessful [[Battle of Jalalabad (1989)|Battle of Jalalabad]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fleiss |first=Alex |date=2022-04-05 |title=What happened in the battle of Jalalabad? |url=https://www.rebellionresearch.com/what-happened-in-the-battle-of-jalalabad |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=Rebellion Research |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626020059/https://www.rebellionresearch.com/what-happened-in-the-battle-of-jalalabad |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Roy Gutman |url=http://archive.org/details/howwemissedstory00gutm |title=How we missed the story |date=2008 |publisher=US Inst Peace Pr |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-60127-024-5}}</ref> Bin Laden led his men in person to immobilize the 7th [[Sarandoy]] Regiment but failed doing so leading to massive casualties. He funded the [[1990 Afghan coup d'état attempt]] led by hardcore communist General [[Shahnawaz Tanai]].<ref name="auto"/> He also lobbied the [[Parliament of Pakistan]] to carry out an unsuccessful [[motion of no confidence]] against Prime Minister [[Benazir Bhutto]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=Ghost wars : the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to 10 September 2001|date=2004|publisher=Penguin Press|isbn=1-59420-007-6|location=New York|oclc=52814066}}</ref>

=== The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and Gulf war===

The [[invasion of Kuwait|Iraqi invasion of Kuwait]] under [[Saddam Hussein]] on 2 August 1990, put the Saudi kingdom and the royal family at risk. With Iraqi forces on the [[Iraq–Saudi Arabia border|Saudi border]], Saddam's appeal to pan-Arabism was potentially inciting internal dissent. One week after King Fahd agreed to [[United States Secretary of Defense|U.S. Secretary of Defense]] [[Dick Cheney]]'s offer of American military assistance, Bin Laden met with King Fahd and Saudi Defense Minister [[Sultan bin Abdulaziz]], telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance from the U.S. and others and offering to help defend Saudi Arabia with his Arab legion. When Sultan asked how Bin Laden would defend the fighters if Saddam used [[Iraq and weapons of mass destruction|Iraqi chemical and biological weapons]] against them, he replied, "We will fight him with faith."{{Sfn|Wright|2006|p=178–179}} Bin Laden's offer was rebuffed, and the Saudi monarchy invited the deployment of U.S. forces in Saudi territory.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jehl |first=Douglas |title=A Nation Challenged: Holy war lured Saudis as rulers looked Away |work=The New York Times |date=27 December 2001 |pages=A1, B4 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118105250/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |archive-date=18 November 2010 }}</ref>

Bin Laden publicly denounced Saudi dependence on the U.S. forces, arguing that it was indignity that the kingdom was being defended by an army of American unbelievers.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jehl |first1=Douglas |title=A Nation Challenged: Saudi Arabia; Holy War Lured Saudis As Rulers Looked Away |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/27/world/a-nation-challenged-saudi-arabia-holy-war-lured-saudis-as-rulers-looked-away.html |access-date=21 November 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=27 December 2001 |page=1}}</ref> Bin Laden tried to convince the Saudi ''[[ulama]]'' to issue a fatwa condemning the American military deployment but senior clerics refused out of fear of repression.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=180}}</ref> Bin Laden's continued criticism of the Saudi monarchy led them to put him under house arrest, under which he remained until he was ultimately forced to leave the country in 1991.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murdico |first1=Suzanne J. |title=Osama bin Laden |date=2004 |publisher=New York, NY : Rosen Pub. Group |isbn=978-0-8239-4467-5 |page=32 |url=https://archive.org/details/osamabinladen0000murd/page/32/mode/2up}}</ref> The U.S. [[82nd Airborne Division]] landed in the north-eastern Saudi city of [[Dhahran]] and was deployed in the desert barely 400 miles from Medina.<ref name="Fisk-p4" />
[[File:1993 World Trade Center bombing debris investigations.jpg|thumb|The aftermath of al-Qaeda's [[1993 World Trade Center bombing|1993 bombing]] of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York City]]
Meanwhile, on 8 November 1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of [[El Sayyid Nosair]], an associate of al-Qaeda operative Ali Mohamed. They discovered copious evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. This marked the earliest discovery of al-Qaeda terrorist plans outside of Muslim countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |title=USA v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel-Rahman et al: 93-CR-181-KTD |publisher=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |access-date=28 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109221029/http://www.tkb.org/CaseHome.jsp?caseid=332 |archive-date=9 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nosair was eventually convicted in connection to the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]] and, years later, admitted guilt for the murder of Rabbi [[Meir Kahane]] in New York City on 5 November 1990.

=== Move to Sudan ===
{{Further|Al-Qaeda involvement in Africa}}
In 1991, Bin Laden was expelled from Saudi Arabia by its government after repeatedly criticizing the Saudi alliance with the United States.<ref name="pbschronology" /><ref name="cnn201107">{{cite web |year=2011 |title=Timeline: Osama bin Laden, over the years |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.timeline/index.html |work=CNN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717222154/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/02/bin.laden.timeline/index.html |archive-date=17 July 2011|access-date=17 October 2019}}</ref> He and his followers moved first to Afghanistan and then relocated to Sudan by 1992,<ref name="pbschronology" /><ref name="cnn201107" /> in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed.<ref>{{cite web |title=Abdullah Assam: The Man Before Osama bin Laden |last=Emerson |first=Steve |url=http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html |publisher=International Association of Counterterrorism & Security Professionals|access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070218211532/http://www.iacsp.com/itobli3.html |archive-date=18 February 2007 }}</ref> Bin Laden's personal security detail consisted of bodyguards personally selected by him. Their arsenal included [[SA-7]], [[Stinger missile]]s, AK-47s, [[Rocket-propelled grenade|RPGs]], and [[PK machine gun]]s.<ref>Soufan, Ali. ''The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda.'' W.W. Norton and Company. New York and London: 2011.Page 325</ref> Meanwhile, in March–April 1992, Bin Laden tried to play a pacifying role in the escalating [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|civil war in Afghanistan]], by urging warlord [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] to join the other ''mujahideen'' leaders negotiating a coalition government instead of trying to conquer [[Kabul]] for himself.{{sfnp|Gutman|2008|page=37}}

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving Bin Laden was the 29 December 1992, bombing of the [[Gold Mohur Hotel]] in [[Aden]] in which two people were killed.<ref name="pbschronology" />

In the 1990s, Bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted ''jihadis'' financially, and sometimes militarily, in Algeria, Egypt, and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993, Bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded. The [[Algerian Civil War#Massacres and reconciliation|war]] that followed caused the deaths of 150,000 to 200,000 Algerians and ended with the Islamists surrendering to the government.<ref name="GhostWars">Coll, Steve, "Ghost Wars," (Penguin Books, 2004)</ref>

In Sudan, Bin Laden established a new base for ''mujahideen'' operations in [[Khartoum]]. He bought [[Osama bin Laden's house in Khartoum|a house on Al-Mashtal Street]] in the affluent Al-Riyadh quarter and a retreat at [[Soba (city)|Soba]] on the [[Blue Nile]].<ref name="Reeve2002">{{cite book |last=Reeve |first=Simon |title=The new jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQjpziNmoE4C&pg=PA172 |access-date=7 May 2011 |date=27 June 2002 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-1-55553-509-4 |page=172 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529065422/http://books.google.com/books?id=VQjpziNmoE4C&pg=PA172 |archive-date=29 May 2013 }}</ref><ref name="ShayLiberman2006">{{cite book |last1=Shay |first1=Shaul |last2=Liberman |first2=Rachel |title=The Red Sea terror triangle: Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Islamic terror |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2ss0vor_DkC&pg=PA43 |access-date=7 May 2011 |date=13 October 2006 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=978-1-4128-0620-6 |page=43 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529080257/http://books.google.com/books?id=v2ss0vor_DkC&pg=PA43 |archive-date=29 May 2013 }}</ref> During his time in Sudan, he heavily invested in the infrastructure, in agriculture and businesses.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fisk |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Fisk |date=December 6, 1993 |title=Anti-Soviet warrior puts his army on the road to peace: The Saudi businessman who recruited mujahedin now uses them for large-scale building projects in Sudan. Robert Fisk met him in Almatig |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220902121545/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/antisoviet-warrior-puts-his-army-on-the-road-to-peace-the-saudi-businessman-who-recruited-mujahedin-now-uses-them-for-largescale-building-projects-in-sudan-robert-fisk-met-him-in-almatig-1465715.html |archive-date=September 2, 2022 |access-date=December 7, 2024 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> He was the Sudan agent for the British firm [[Hunting Surveys]],<ref name="VF2002">{{cite web|last=Rose |first=David |date=January 2002 |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2002/01/osama200201 |title=The Osama Files|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008210904/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2002/01/osama200201 |archive-date=8 October 2014}}</ref> and built roads using the same bulldozers he had employed to construct mountain tracks in Afghanistan. Many of his labourers were the same fighters who had been his comrades in the war against the Soviet Union. He was generous to the poor and popular with the people.<ref name="Gallab2008">{{cite book |last=Gallab |first=Abdullahi A. |title=The first Islamist republic: development and disintegration of Islamism in Sudan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s1XdRfAJwLIC&pg=PA127 |access-date=7 May 2011 |year=2008 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-7162-6 |page=127 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727154122/http://books.google.com/books?id=s1XdRfAJwLIC&pg=PA127 |archive-date=27 July 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fisk|first=Robert |year=2005|title=The Great War for Civilisation|page=5}}</ref> He continued to criticize King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. In response, in 1994, Fahd stripped Bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship and persuaded his family to cut off his $7&nbsp;million a year stipend.<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Forbes">{{cite web|last=Ackman|first=Dan |url=https://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html |title=The Cost Of Being Osama bin Laden|work=Forbes |date=14 September 2001|access-date=15 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729115849/https://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html |archive-date=29 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=195}}</ref>

By that time, Bin Laden was being linked with EIJ, which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995, the EIJ [[Attempted assassination of President Hosni Mubarak|attempted to assassinate]] the Egyptian president [[Hosni Mubarak]]. The attempt failed, and Sudan expelled the EIJ. After this bombing, al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by [[Mamdouh Mahmud Salim]], the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find a proper reward in death, going to ''[[Jannah]]'' (paradise) if they were good Muslims and to ''[[Jahannam]]'' (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.<ref>testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, US v. Usama bin Laden, et al.</ref> The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a [[State terrorism|sponsor of international terrorism]] and Bin Laden of operating terrorist training camps in the Sudanese desert. However, according to Sudan officials, this stance became obsolete as the Islamist political leader [[Hassan al-Turabi]] lost influence in their country. The Sudanese wanted to engage with the U.S., but American officials refused to meet with them even after they had expelled Bin Laden. It was not until 2000 that the State Department authorized U.S. intelligence officials to visit Sudan.<ref name="VF2002" />

The [[9/11 Commission Report]] states:

<blockquote>In late 1995, when Bin Laden was still in Sudan, the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) learned that Sudanese officials were discussing with the Saudi government the possibility of expelling Bin Laden. CIA paramilitary officer [[Billy Waugh]] tracked down Bin Ladin in Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.<ref>''Hunting the Jackal: A Special Forces and CIA Soldier's Fifty Years on the Frontlines of the War Against Terrorism,'' 2004.</ref> US Ambassador [[Timothy M. Carney|Timothy Carney]] encouraged the Sudanese to pursue this course. The Saudis, however, did not want Bin Laden, giving as their reason their revocation of his citizenship. [[Minister of Defence (Sudan)|Sudan's minister of defense]], Fatih Erwa, has claimed that Sudan offered to hand Bin Laden over to the United States. The Commission has found no credible evidence that this was so. Ambassador Carney had instructions only to push the Sudanese to expel Bin Laden. Ambassador Carney had no legal basis to ask for more from the Sudanese since, at the time, there was no indictment outstanding against Bin Laden in any country.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch4.pdf |title=Responses to Al Qaeda's Initial Assaults |publisher=9/11 Commission |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015032827/http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch4.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2009}}</ref></blockquote>

In January 1996, the CIA launched a new unit of its [[Counterterrorism Center]] (CTC) called the [[Bin Laden Issue Station]], code-named "Alec Station", to track and to carry out operations against his activities. Bin Laden Issue Station was headed by Michael Scheuer, a veteran of the Islamic Extremism Branch of the CTC.<ref name="GhostWars" /> U.S. intelligence monitored Bin Laden in Sudan using operatives to run by daily and to photograph activities at his compound, and using an intelligence safe house and [[signals intelligence]] to surveil him and to record his moves.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jacobsen |first=Annie |author-link=Annie Jacobsen |title=Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2019 |place=New York |pages=281–288}}</ref>

=== Return to Afghanistan ===
The 9/11 Commission Report states:

<blockquote>In February 1996, Sudanese officials began approaching officials from the United States and other governments, asking what actions of theirs might ease foreign pressure. In secret meetings with Saudi officials, Sudan offered to expel Bin Laden to Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudis to pardon him. US officials became aware of these secret discussions, certainly by March. Saudi officials apparently wanted Bin Laden expelled from Sudan. They had already revoked his citizenship, however, and would not tolerate his presence in their country. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the [[CIA]].</blockquote>

Due to the increasing pressure on Sudan from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, Bin Laden was permitted to leave for a country of his choice. He chose to return to [[Jalalabad]], Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight on 18 May 1996; there he forged a close relationship with Mullah Omar.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/la-120601tora-story.html |title=Fighters Hunt Former Ally |work=Los Angeles Times |last=Stack |first=Megan K. |date=6 December 2001 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090919134203/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/06/news/mn-12224 |archive-date=19 September 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550419.stm |title=Profile: Mullah Mohamed Omar |date=18 September 2001 |work=BBC News |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100728110131/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550419.stm |archive-date=28 July 2010 }}</ref> The expulsion from Sudan significantly weakened Bin Laden and his organization.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch2.pdf |title=The Foundation of the New Terrorism |publisher=9/11 Commission |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100827082338/http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch2.pdf |archive-date=27 August 2010 }}</ref> Some African intelligence sources have argued that the expulsion left Bin Laden without an option other than becoming a full-time radical, and that most of the 300 Afghan Arabs who left with him subsequently became terrorists.<ref name=VF2002 /> Various sources report that he lost between $20&nbsp;million<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=222}}</ref> and $300&nbsp;million<ref>{{Harvnb|Stern|2003|p=253}}</ref> in Sudan; the government seized his construction equipment, and he was forced to liquidate his businesses, land, and even his horses.

==== 1996 Declaration of war and 1998 fatwa ====
{{Main|Fatawā of Osama bin Laden}}
In August 1996, Bin Laden [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden#1996 fatwā|issued a]] ''[[List of fatwas|fatawā]]'' titled "''Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places''", which was published by ''[[Al-Quds Al-Arabi]]'', a London-based newspaper. Saudi Arabia is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Mecca and Medina. The reference to occupation in the ''[[Fatwa|fatwā]]'' referred to U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq, known as [[Operation Southern Watch]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Bergen|2008|p=14}}.</ref> Despite the assurance of President [[George H. W. Bush]] to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there. Bush cited the necessity of dealing with the remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime (which Bush had chosen not to destroy). Bin Laden's view was that "the 'evils' of the Middle East arose from America's attempt to take over the region and from its support for Israel. Saudi Arabia had been turned into an [[American colonialism|American colony]]".<ref name="Fisk-p22">{{cite book |last=Fisk |first=Robert |title=The Great War for Civilisation |year=2005 |page=22}}</ref>

Fervently attacking [[American-Israeli relations|American support for Israel]] and Saudi Arabia as well as its [[Sanctions against Iraq|sanctions on Iraq]], Bin Laden declared in the ''fatwa'': <blockquote>"Terrorising you, while you are carrying arms on our land, is a legitimate and morally demanded duty. It is a legitimate right well known to all humans and other creatures... [our] youths are different from your soldiers. Your problem will be how to convince your troops to fight, while our problem will be how to restrain our youths.. The youths hold you responsible for all of the killings and evictions of the Muslims and the violation of the sanctities, carried out by your [[Israeli invasion and occupation of South Lebanon (1982-2000)|Zionist brothers in Lebanon]]; you openly supplied them with arms and finance. More than 600,000 Iraqi children have died due to lack of food and medicine and as a result of the unjustifiable aggression ([[Sanctions against Iraq|sanction]]) imposed on Iraq and its nation. The children of Iraq are our children. You, the USA, together with the Saudi regime are responsible for the shedding of the blood of these innocent children. Due to all of that, what ever treaty you have with our country is now null and void."<ref>{{cite web |date=August 1996 |title=Bin Laden's Fatwa |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011031024057/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html |archive-date=31 October 2001 |access-date=25 June 2011 |publisher=PBS}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden.jpg|thumb|Pakistani journalist [[Hamid Mir]] interviewing Bin Laden, {{circa|1997–1998}}. The [[AKS-74U]] in the background is a symbol of the ''[[mujahideen]]''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|victory over the Soviets]], since these weapons were captured from [[Spetsnaz]] forces.]]

On 23 February 1998; Bin Laden, alongside [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]], [[Ahmed Refai Taha|Ahmad Refai Taha]], [[Shaykh Mir Hamzah]] and [[Maulana Fazlur Rehman|Maulana Fazlur Rahman]]; issued [[Fatawā of Osama bin Laden#1998 fatwā|another ''fatwā'']] against the U.S., calling upon Muslims to attack the country and its allies. It was entitled "''Declaration of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders''".<ref name="irp.fas.org">{{Cite web |title=Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: World Islamic Front Statement |url=https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204143050/https://irp.fas.org/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |archive-date=4 December 2021 |access-date= |website=FAS Intelligence Resource Program}}</ref> After listing numerous acts of aggression committed by the U.S., such as the [[Operation Southern Watch|presence of American forces in the Arabian Peninsula]], sanctions against Iraq, Israeli repression of Palestinians, among other things. The fatwa stated: <blockquote>"All these American crimes and sins are a clear proclamation of war against God, his Messenger, and the Muslims. Religious scholars throughout Islamic history have agreed that ''jihad'' is an individual duty when an enemy attacks Muslim countries. This was related by the [[Imam]] [[Ibn Qudamah|ibn Qudama]] in "''The Resource''," by Imam [[al-Kisa'i]] in "''The Marvels''," by [[al-Qurtubi]] in his exegesis, and by the Sheikh of Islam when he states in his chronicles that "As for fighting to repel an enemy, which is the strongest way to defend freedom and religion, it is agreed that this is a duty. After faith, there is no greater duty than fighting an enemy who is corrupting religion and the world.""<ref>{{cite book |title=Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden |publisher=Verso |year=2005 |isbn=1-84467-045-7 |editor=Bruce Lawrence |location=6 Meard Street, London W1F OEG |pages=60, 61}}</ref><ref name="irp.fas.org"/></blockquote>

At the public announcement, Bin Laden said that North Americans are "very easy targets". He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Van Atta |first=Dale |author-link=Dale Van Atta |year=1998 |title=Carbombs & cameras: the need for responsible media coverage of terrorism |url=https://archive.org/details/trustbetrayedins00vana/page/66 |journal=Harvard International Review |location=Cambridge, Mass. |publisher=Harvard International Relations Council |volume=20 |issue=4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/trustbetrayedins00vana/page/66 66] |isbn=978-0-89526-485-5 |issn=0739-1854 |access-date=28 May 2010}}</ref> It also claimed the "individual duty for every Muslim "was to liberate [[Al-Aqsa]] in [[Jerusalem]] and the [[Masjid al-Haram|Grand Mosque in Mecca]] from their grip.<ref>{{cite web |author=Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin |last2=al-Zawahiri |first2=Ayman |author3=Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha |author4=Shaykh Mir Hamzah |last5=Rahman |first5=Fazlur |date=23 February 1998 |title=World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders: Initial "Fatwa" Statement |url=https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626184406/https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm |archive-date=26 June 2016 |access-date=28 May 2010 |work=al-Quds al-Arabi |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Shaykh Usamah Bin-Muhammad Bin-Ladin |last2=al-Zawahiri |first2=Ayman |author3=Abu-Yasir Rifa'i Ahmad Taha |author4=Shaykh Mir Hamzah |last5=Rahman |first5=Fazlur |date=23 February 1998 |title=Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. World Islamic Front Statement |url=https://fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421110549/http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/980223-fatwa.htm |archive-date=21 April 2010 |access-date=28 May 2010 |publisher=al-Quds al-Arabi}} English-language version of the fatwa translated by the [[Federation of American Scientists]] of the [https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm original Arabic document published in the newspaper ''al-Quds al-Arabi'' (London, UK) on 1998-02-23, p. 3] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626184406/https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fatw2.htm|date=26 June 2016}}.</ref>

=== Late 1990s attacks ===
In Afghanistan, Bin Laden and al-Qaeda raised money from donors from the days of the Afghan ''jihad'', and from the Pakistani ISI to establish more training camps for ''mujahideen'' fighters.<ref>{{Harvnb|Wright|2006|p=250}}</ref> Bin Laden effectively took over [[Ariana Afghan Airlines]], which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash, and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, as well as provided false identifications to members of Bin Laden's terrorist network.<ref>Stephen Braun; Judy Pasternak [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-18-mn-5593-story.html "Long Before Sept. 11, Bin Laden Aircraft Flew Under the Radar"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. 18 November 2001.</ref> The arms smuggler [[Viktor Bout]] helped to run the airline, maintaining planes and loading cargo. Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit, concluded that Ariana was being used as a terrorist taxi service.<ref>''Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible'' (2007), pp. 138–140</ref>

It has been claimed that Bin Laden funded the [[Luxor massacre]] of 17 November 1997,<ref>Jailan Halawi, "Bin Laden behind Luxor Massacre?", ''Al-Ahram Weekly'', 20–26 May 1999.</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Barbara |last=Plett |title=Bin Laden 'behind Luxor massacre' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/343207.stm |work=BBC News |date=13 May 1999 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121090734/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/343207.stm |archive-date=21 November 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Profile: Ayman al-Zawahiri |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1560834.stm |work=BBC News |date=27 September 2004 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819003214/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1560834.stm |archive-date=19 August 2010 }}</ref> which killed 62 civilians, and outraged the Egyptian public. The [[Federal Office of Police|Swiss Federal Police]] later determined that bin Laden had financed the operation.{{sfn|Wright|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1fCBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT210 258]}} In mid-1997, the [[Northern Alliance]] threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing him to abandon his [[Najim Jihad]] compound and move his operations to [[Tarnak Farms]] in the south.<ref name="arkChark">Testimony of [[Abdurahman Khadr]] as a witness in the trial against Charkaoui, 13 July 2004.</ref>[[File:1998 United States embassy in Nairobi bombings IDF relief VII.jpg|thumb|The aftermath of the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 bombing]] of the U.S. embassy in [[Nairobi|Nairobi, Kenya]]|left]]Another successful attack was carried out in the city of [[Mazar-i-Sharif]] in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with the Taliban by sending several hundred Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand [[Hazaras]] overrunning the city.<ref>Rashid, ''Taliban'', p. 139.</ref>
Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on 24 June 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=252 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703033234/http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=252 |title=Russian Secret Services' Links With Al-Qaeda |date=18 July 2005 |last=Elbaz|first=Michel |work=Axis Globe |archive-date=3 July 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[1998 United States embassy bombings|1998 U.S. embassy bombings]] were a series of attacks that occurred on 7 August 1998, in which hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous [[truck bomb]] explosions at the U.S. embassies in the major East African cities of [[Dar es Salaam]], Tanzania, and [[Nairobi]], Kenya.<ref name="cnn201310">{{cite web |year=2013 |title=1998 US Embassies in Africa Bombings Fast Facts |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/06/africa/africa-embassy-bombings-fast-facts/index.html |work=CNN |access-date=17 October 2019 |archive-date=24 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024083240/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/06/world/africa/africa-embassy-bombings-fast-facts/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The attacks were linked to local members of the EIJ, and brought Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to the attention of the U.S. public for the first time. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the bombings.<ref name="cnn201310" />
[[File:Operation Infinite Reach map.png|thumb|The two locations targeted in [[Operation Infinite Reach]], the U.S.' 1998 bombing of al-Qaeda targets in [[Khartoum|Khartoum, Sudan]], and [[Khost|Khost, Afghanistan]]]]
In retaliation for the embassy bombings, U.S. president [[Bill Clinton]] ordered a [[Operation Infinite Reach|series of cruise missile strikes]] on Bin Laden-related targets in Sudan and Afghanistan on 20 August 1998.<ref name="cnn201310" /> In December 1998, the CIA reported to Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the U.S., including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft.<ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522041639/http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001110635/0001110635_0001.gif |archive-date=22 May 2010 |title=Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack U.S. Aircraft and Other Attacks |date=4 December 1998 |access-date=3 March 2016 |publisher=[[Director of Central Intelligence]] |url=http://www.foia.cia.gov/docs/DOC_0001110635/0001110635_0001.gif}}</ref> On 7 June 1999, the FBI placed Bin Laden on its [[FBI ten most wanted fugitives|Ten Most Wanted]] list.<ref name="pbscontext">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/timeline-al-qaedas-global-context/ |title=Timeline: Al Qaeda's Global Context |publisher=PBS |date=3 October 2002 |access-date=20 October 2019 |archive-date=9 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809234850/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/etc/cron.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103044553/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm |archive-date=3 January 2008 |access-date=26 May 2010 |publisher=FBI.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Eggen |first=Dan |date=28 August 2006 |title=Bin Laden, Most Wanted For Embassy Bombings? |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700687.html |url-status=live |access-date=26 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115203443/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/27/AR2006082700687.html |archive-date=15 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="cnnterrorlist">{{cite news |date=10 October 2001 |title='Most wanted terrorists' list released |publisher=CNN |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/10/10/inv.mostwanted.list/ |url-status=live |access-date=2 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050410042856/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/10/10/inv.mostwanted.list |archive-date=10 April 2005}}</ref><ref name="Fisk-p22" /> On October 15, 1999, the United Nations designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization through [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267|UN Security Council Resolution 1267]]. This resolution aimed to impose sanctions on individuals and entities associated with al-Qaeda, including freezing assets and imposing travel bans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 October 1999 |title=Resolution 1267 (1999) |url=http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/1267 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701101037/http://unscr.com/en/resolutions/1267 |archive-date=1 July 2022 |website=unscr.org |publisher=UN Security Council}}</ref>

In late 2000, [[Richard A. Clarke|Richard Clarke]] revealed that Islamic militants headed by Bin Laden had planned a [[2000 millennium attack plots|triple attack on 3 January 2000]], which would have included bombings in [[Jordan]] of the [[Radisson SAS Hotel]] in [[Amman]], tourists at [[Mount Nebo (Jordan)|Mount Nebo]], and a site on the [[Jordan River]], as well as the sinking of the destroyer {{USS|The Sullivans|DDG-68|6}} in Yemen, and an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of [[Ahmed Ressam]].<ref name="Loeb">{{Cite news |last=Loeb |first=Vernon |author-link=Vernon Loeb |date=24 December 2000 |title=Terrorists Plotted Jan. 2000 Attacks |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43852-2000Dec23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521152243/https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43852-2000Dec23/ |archive-date=21 May 2018 |access-date=6 January 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

=== Yugoslav Wars ===
{{See also|Bosnian mujahideen}}
A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] as a safe haven for terrorists, and asserted that militant elements of the former [[Sarajevo]] government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Bin Laden.<ref name=SeattleTimes2001-10-15>{{Cite news |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20011015/bosnia15/bosnia-151-base-for-terrorism |title=Bosnia – base for terrorism |work=The Seattle Times |last1=Pyes|first1=Craig |last2=Meyer|first2=Josh |last3=Rempel|first3=William C. |date=15 October 2001 |access-date=25 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119202404/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20011015&slug=bosnia15 |archive-date=19 November 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Middle East intelligence reports, Bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. Among them was [[Karim Said Atmani]], who was identified by authorities as the document forger for a group of Algerians accused of plotting the bombings in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/50933336.html?FMT=ABS |title=A Bosnian Village's Terrorist Ties |newspaper=The Washington Post |last=Smith |first=R. Jeffrey |date=11 March 2000 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725055852/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/50933336.html?FMT=ABS |archive-date=25 July 2012 }}</ref> He is a former roommate of [[Ahmed Ressam]], the man arrested at the [[Canada–United States border]] in mid-December 1999 with a car full of nitroglycerin and bomb-making materials.<ref name="csisAlmrei">[[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]], Summary of the Security Intelligence Report concerning Hassan Almrei, 22 February 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baravalle |first=Giorgio |title=Rethink: Cause and Consequences of September&nbsp;11 |publisher=de-MO |year=2004 |page=584 |isbn=0-9705768-6-2}}</ref> He was convicted of colluding with Bin Laden by a French court.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.aina.org/news/20050817121245.htm |title=Jihadists find convenient base in Bosnia |agency=Assyrian International News Agency |last=Gossett |first=Sherrie |date=17 August 2005 |access-date=25 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217231929/http://www.aina.org/news/20050817121245.htm |archive-date=17 December 2005 |url-status=live}}</ref>

A Bosnian government search of passport and residency records, conducted at the urging of the United States, revealed other former ''mujahideen'' who were linked to the same Algerian group or to other groups of suspected terrorists, and had lived in the area {{convert|60|mi|km|sigfig=1|order=flip|abbr=on}} north of Sarajevo, the capital, in the past few years. [[Khalil al-Deek]] was arrested in Jordan in late December 1999 on suspicion of involvement in a plot to blow up tourist sites. A second man with Bosnian citizenship, Hamid Aich, lived in Canada at the same time as Atmani and worked for a charity associated with Bin Laden. In its 26 June 1997 report on the bombing of the Al Khobar building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, ''The New York Times'' noted that those arrested confessed to serving with Bosnian Muslim forces. Further, the captured men also admitted to ties with Bin Laden.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Bin Laden was granted Bosnian passport", Agence France-Presse, 24 September 1999.</ref><ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/23/world/outsiders-bring-islamic-fervor-to-the-balkans.html |title=Outsiders Bring Islamic Fervor To the Balkans |work=The New York Times |last=Hedges |first=Chris |date=23 September 1996 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705164148/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/23/world/outsiders-bring-islamic-fervor-to-the-balkans.html |archive-date=5 July 2011 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=January 2021}}

In 1999, the press reported that Bin Laden and his Tunisian assistant Mehrez Aodouni were granted citizenship and [[Bosnian passport]]s in 1993 by the government in Sarajevo. The Bosnian government denied this information following the September 11 attacks, but it was later found that Aodouni was arrested in Turkey and that at that time he possessed the Bosnian passport. Following this revelation, a new explanation was given that Bin Laden did not personally collect his Bosnian passport and that officials at the Bosnian embassy in Vienna, which issued the passport, could not have known who he was at the time.<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="query.nytimes.com" />{{Verify source|date=January 2021}}

The head of Albania's State Intelligence Service ([[SHISH]]), Fatos Klosi, said that Bin Laden was running a terror network in [[Albania]] to take part in the [[Kosovo War]] under the guise of a humanitarian organization and it was reported to have been started in 1994. Claude Kader, who was a member, testified its existence during his trial.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apnews.com/6d844d0d31d7cf39ccd52891567235be |title=Bin Laden, Albania Link Reported |website=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=8 October 2018 |archive-date=9 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181009013427/https://apnews.com/6d844d0d31d7cf39ccd52891567235be |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1998, four members of EIJ were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mayer|first=Jane |title=The Dark Side |year=2008 |publisher=Doubleday |page=114 |isbn=978-0-385-52639-5}} (0-385-52639-3)</ref> The ''mujahideen'' fighters were organized by Islamic leaders in Western Europe allied to him and al-Zawahiri.<ref name="Bodansky2011">{{cite book|last=Bodansky|first=Yossef|title=Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vur8xnVanEUC&pg=PA398|date=4 May 2011|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-79772-8|pages=398–403|access-date=26 October 2018|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019145435/https://books.google.com/books?id=vur8xnVanEUC&pg=PA398|url-status=live}}</ref>

During his trial at the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]], former Serbian president [[Slobodan Milošević]] quoted from a purported FBI report that al-Qaeda had a presence in the Balkans and aided the [[Kosovo Liberation Army]]. He claimed Bin Laden had used Albania as a launchpad for violence in the region and Europe. He claimed that they had informed [[Richard Holbrooke]] that KLA was being aided by al-Qaeda but the US decided to cooperate with the KLA and thus indirectly with Osama despite the U.S. embassy bombings earlier. Milošević had argued that the U.S. aided the terrorists, which culminated in its backing of the 1999 [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]] during the Kosovo War.<ref>{{cite news|last=Roche|first=Andrew |url=http://news.findlaw.com/international/s/20020215/milosevicdc.html|title=Milosevic: U.S. was Ally of Al Qaeda in Kosovo|agency=Reuters |date=15 February 2002|via=FindLaw|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020220040734/http://news.findlaw.com/international/s/20020215/milosevicdc.html|archive-date=20 February 2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Scahill |first1=Jeremy |title=Rest Easy, Bill Clinton: Milosevic Can't Talk Anymore |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rest-easy-bill-clinton-mi_b_17235 |website=Huffington Post |date=13 March 2006 |access-date=19 June 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135015/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rest-easy-bill-clinton-mi_b_17235 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Al-Qaeda 'helped Kosovo rebels' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1862515.stm |website=BBC News |date=8 March 2002 |access-date=19 June 2020 |archive-date=9 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809231059/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1862515.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=US backed Al Qaeda in Kosovo: Milosevic: Chinese embassy bombing termed deliberate |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/21743/us-backed-al-qaeda-in-kosovo-milosevic-chinese-embassy-bombing-termed-deliberate |website=Dawn |date=16 February 2002 |access-date=19 June 2020 |archive-date=24 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724072002/https://www.dawn.com/news/21743/us-backed-al-qaeda-in-kosovo-milosevic-chinese-embassy-bombing-termed-deliberate |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Criminal charges ===
On 16 March 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol [[arrest warrant]] against Bin Laden and three other people. They were charged for killing Silvan Becker, agent of Germany's domestic intelligence service, the [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution]], in the Terrorism Department, and his wife Vera in Libya on 10 March 1994.<ref name="interpol" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Flade |first=Florian |date=2 May 2011 |title=The Untold Story of Gaddafi's Hunt For Osama bin Laden |url=http://www.worldcrunch.com/untold-story-gaddafis-hunt-osama-bin-laden/2963 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122185405/http://worldcrunch.com/untold-story-gaddafis-hunt-osama-bin-laden/2963 |archive-date=22 November 2011 |access-date=3 September 2011 |publisher=[[Die Welt]]/Worldcrunch}}</ref> Bin Laden was still wanted by the [[Libyan government]] at the time of his death.<ref>{{cite web |last=Salama |first=Sammy |date=September 2004 |title=Was Libyan WMD Disarmament a Significant Success for Nonproliferation? |url=http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_56a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602234625/http://www.nti.org/e_research/e3_56a.html |archive-date=2 June 2011 |access-date=28 May 2010 |publisher=NTI}}</ref><ref>Interpol Arrest Warrant File No. 1998/20232, Control No. A-268/5-1998. Brisard Jean-Charles, Dasquie Guillaume. "Forbidden Truth". (New York: Thunder Mouth Press, 2002), p. 156.</ref> He was first indicted by a [[grand jury]] of the U.S. on 8 June 1998, on a charges of conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the U.S. and prosecutors further charged that Bin Laden was the head of the terrorist organization called al-Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic fighters worldwide.<ref name="cron">{{cite web |author1=Frontline |author-link=Frontline (American TV program) |author2=The New York Times |author3=Rain Media |year=c. 2001 |title=Osama bin Laden: A Chronology of His Political Life |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717222134/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/etc/cron.html |archive-date=17 July 2006 |access-date=25 July 2006 |work=Hunting Bin Laden: Who Is Bin Laden? |series=Frontline |publisher=[[WGBH-TV|WGBH]] Educational Foundation}}</ref>

During the Clinton administration, capturing Bin Laden had been an objective of the U.S. government.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 September 2006 |title=Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing Bin Laden |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005001828/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/clinton.binladen/index.html |archive-date=5 October 2006 |access-date=27 May 2010 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> Shortly after the September 11 attacks, it was revealed that Clinton had signed a directive authorizing the CIA (specifically, their elite [[Special Activities Center|Special Activities Division]]) to apprehend Bin Laden and bring him to the U.S. to stand trial for the 1998 embassy attacks; if taking him alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force was authorized.<ref name="cbs">{{cite news |date=16 September 2001 |title=Report: Clinton Targeted Bin Laden |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-clinton-targeted-bin-laden/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110508111618/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/16/national/main311490.shtml |archive-date=8 May 2011 |publisher=[[CBS News]]}}</ref> On 20 August 1998, 66 cruise missiles launched by U.S. Navy ships in the [[Arabian Sea]] struck Bin Laden's training camps near [[Khost]] in Afghanistan, missing him by a few hours.<ref name="Woodward&Ricks">{{cite news |last1=Woodward |first1=Bob |last2=Ricks |first2=Thomas E. |date=3 October 2001 |title=CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800629.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160828011415/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/18/AR2007111800629.html |archive-date=28 August 2016 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

On 4 November 1998, Bin Laden was indicted by a [[Grand juries in the United States|Federal Grand Jury]] in the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]], on charges of ''Murder of US Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder US Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death''<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=Indictment #S(9) 98 Cr. 1023 |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nys/pressreleases/October12/ChargingDocs/Bin%20Laden.%20Usama%20S7%20Indictment.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226024410/https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nys/pressreleases/October12/ChargingDocs/Bin%20Laden.%20Usama%20S7%20Indictment.pdf |archive-date=26 February 2017 |access-date=6 Feb 2023 |publisher=U.S. Department of Justice}}</ref> for his alleged role in the 1998 embassy attacks. The evidence against Bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members and satellite phone records, from a phone purchased for him by al-Qaeda procurement agent [[Ziyad Khaleel]] in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 February 2001 |title=Embassy bombing defendant linked to Bin Laden |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/14/embassy.bombing.02/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226033056/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/14/embassy.bombing.02/index.html |archive-date=26 December 2007 |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Profile: Osama bin Laden |url=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=osama_bin_laden |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101229162104/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=osama_bin_laden |archive-date=29 December 2010 |access-date=16 December 2018 |publisher=Cooperative Research}}</ref> However, the Taliban ruled not to extradite Bin Laden on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence published in the indictments and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims.<ref>{{cite news |date=21 November 1998 |title=Osama bin Laden 'innocent' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/217947.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223030402/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/217947.stm |archive-date=23 December 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

Bin Laden became the [[FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s|456th person listed]] on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, when he was added on 7 June 1999, following his indictment along with others for [[Capital punishment|capital crimes]] in the 1998 embassy attacks. Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of Bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure before the bombing of Afghanistan in October 2001.<ref>{{cite news |last=Reeve |first=William |date=21 November 1998 |title=Osama bin Laden 'innocent' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/217947.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114154322/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/217947.stm |archive-date=14 January 2010 |access-date=27 May 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> In 1999, US president Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him.<ref>{{cite news |date=15 October 1999 |title=Security Council demands that Taliban turn over Osama bin Laden to appropriate authorities |url=https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19991015.sc6739.doc.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816074745/http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19991015.sc6739.doc.html |archive-date=16 August 2013 |publisher=United Nations}}</ref>

In 1999, the CIA, together with Pakistani military intelligence, had prepared a team of approximately 60 Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill Bin Laden, but the plan was aborted by the [[1999 Pakistani coup d'état]];<ref name="Woodward&Ricks" /> in 2000, foreign operatives working on behalf of the CIA had fired a [[rocket-propelled grenade]] at a convoy of vehicles in which Bin Laden was traveling through the mountains of Afghanistan, hitting one of the vehicles but not the one in which Bin Laden was riding.<ref name="cbs" />

In 2000, before the September 11 attacks, [[Paul Bremer]] characterized the [[Clinton administration]] as correctly focused on Bin Laden, while [[Robert B. Oakley|Robert Oakley]] criticized their obsession with Osama.<ref name="Loeb" />

=== September 11 attacks ===
{{See also|September 11 attacks|Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden}}{{blockquote|God knows it did not cross our minds to attack [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|the Towers]], but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in [[State of Palestine|Palestine]] and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were [[1982 Lebanon War|that of 1982]] and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the [[US Sixth Fleet]]. As I watched [[Siege of Beirut|the destroyed towers in Lebanon]], it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women.|Osama bin Laden, 2004<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/30/alqaida.september11 |title=God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the towers |date=30 October 2004 |work=The Guardian |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828091507/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/30/alqaida.september11 |archive-date=28 August 2013}}</ref>}}[[File:UA175 Explosion Todd Rengel.jpg|thumb|[[United Airlines Flight 175]] crashes into the World Trade Center's [[South Tower (disambiguation)|South Tower]] on [[September 11 attacks|9/11]].]]U.S. president [[George W. Bush]] received an intelligence report on 6 August 2001, titled "[[Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US|Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.]]"<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-13 |title=What the CIA knew before 9/11: New details |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/attacks-will-be-spectacular-cia-war-on-terror-bush-bin-laden/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=POLITICO |language=en-GB}}</ref> On 11 September 2001 (the "September 11 attacks" or "9/11"), the U.S. was attacked by al-Qaeda, who used four commercial airplanes as missiles against various targets. Two planes, [[American Airlines Flight 11]] and [[United Airlines Flight 175]], were crashed into the North and South Twin Towers of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] in New York City. [[American Airlines Flight 77]] was crashed into the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]]. [[United Airlines Flight 93]] did not reach its intended destination, as its passengers overtook the plane, which crashed in Pennsylvania. The Twin Towers eventually [[Collapse of the World Trade Center|collapsed]]. At least 2,750 people died from the attacks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-06 |title=September 11 attacks {{!}} History, Summary, Location, Timeline, Casualties, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/September-11-attacks |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

On the day of the attacks, the [[National Security Agency]] intercepted communications that pointed to Bin Laden's responsibility,<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 September 2007 |title=Piece by piece, the jigsaw of terror revealed |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article218611.ece |url-status=live |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070915195906/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article218611.ece |archive-date=15 September 2007 }}</ref> as did [[List of intelligence agencies of Germany|German intelligence]] agencies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 29, 2001 |title=A NATION CHALLENGED: GERMAN INTELLIGENCE; German Data Led U.S. to Search For More Suicide Hijacker Teams |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/29/world/nation-challenged-german-intelligence-german-data-led-us-search-for-more-suicide.html |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> At 11:30&nbsp;p.m., Bush wrote in his diary: "The [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] of the 21st century took place today... We think it's Osama bin Laden."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-04-27 |title=America's Chaotic Road to War (washingtonpost.com) |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43708-2002Jan26 |access-date=2024-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427183753/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A43708-2002Jan26 |archive-date=27 April 2011 }}</ref> The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that classified<ref>{{cite web |date=24 September 2001 |title=President Freezes Terrorists' Assets |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-4.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030212004/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-4.html |archive-date=30 October 2011 |access-date=26 June 2011 |work=The White House}}</ref> evidence linking al-Qaeda and Bin Laden to the September 11 attacks is clear and irrefutable.<ref>{{cite web |author=Watson, Dale L., Executive Assistant Director, Counter terrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI |date=6 February 2002 |title=FBI Testimony about 9/11 terrorists' motives |url=http://www.representativepress.org/FBITestimony.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505093746/http://www.representativepress.org/FBITestimony.html |archive-date=5 May 2011 |access-date=11 February 2011 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation – (RepresentativePress)}}</ref> The UK Government reached a similar conclusion regarding al-Qaeda and Bin Laden's culpability for the September 11 attacks, although the government report noted that the evidence presented is not necessarily sufficient to prosecute the case.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 May 2003 |title=Responsibility for the Terrorist Atrocities in the United States, September&nbsp;11, 2001 |url=http://number10.gov.uk/archive/2003/05/september-11-attacks-culpability-document-3682 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100511135851/number10.gov.uk/archive/2003/05/september-11-attacks-culpability-document-3682 |archive-date=11 May 2010 |access-date=28 May 2010 |publisher=10 Downing Street, Office of the Prime Minister of the UK}}</ref> Identified [[motivations of the September 11 attacks]] include the support of Israel by the United States, presence of the U.S. military in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. enforcement of sanctions against Iraq.[[File:Defense.gov News Photo 672130-D-PUD18-896.jpg|thumb|Image from the video of Bin Laden released on 13 December 2001|left]]

Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the attacks. On 16 September 2001, he read a statement, later broadcast by Al Jazeera, denying responsibility for the attack.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Carl |last1=Cameron |first2=Marla |last2=Lehner |first3=Paul |last3=Wagenseil |agency=Associated Press |title=Pakistan to Demand Taliban Give Up Bin Laden as Iran Seals Afghan Border |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/pakistan-to-demand-taliban-give-up-bin-laden-as-iran-seals-afghan-border |publisher=Fox News Channel |date=16 September 2001 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523082548/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,34440,00.html |archive-date=23 May 2010 }}</ref> In a videotape recovered by U.S. forces in November 2001 in Jalalabad, Bin Laden was seen discussing the attack with [[Khaled al-Harbi]] in a way that indicates foreknowledge.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Bin Laden on tape: Attacks 'benefited Islam greatly' |publisher=CNN |date=14 December 2001 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape |access-date=17 September 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214150849/http://edition.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape/ |archive-date=14 December 2013 }}</ref> The tape was broadcast on various news networks on 13 December 2001. The merits of this translation have been disputed. Arabist Dr. Abdel El M. Husseini stated: "This translation is very problematic. At the most important places where it is held to prove the guilt of Bin Laden, it is not identical with the Arabic."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Restle|first1=Georg |last2=Sieker|first2=Ekkehard |url=http://www.wdr.de/tv/monitor/beitraege.phtml?id=379 |title=Bin-Laden-Video: Falschübersetzung als Beweismittel? |work=Monitor |number=485 |publisher=Westdeutscher Rundfunk |date=20 December 2001 |access-date=28 May 2010 |language=de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030217005900/http://www.wdr.de/tv/monitor/beitraege.phtml?id=379 |archive-date=17 February 2003}}</ref>

In the [[2004 Osama bin Laden video|2004 video]], Bin Laden abandoned his denials without retracting past statements. In it, he said he had personally directed the nineteen hijackers.<ref name="cbc-2004">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-claims-responsibility-for-9-11-1.513654 |title=Bin Laden claims responsibility for 9/11 |publisher=CBC News |date=29 October 2004 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061025044652/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-claims-responsibility-for-9-11-1.513654 |archive-date=25 October 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Al-Jazeera: Bin Laden tape obtained in Pakistan |publisher=NBC News |date=30 October 2004 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6363306 |access-date=28 May 2010 |archive-date=15 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415055105/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6363306/ |url-status=live }}—"In the tape, Bin Laden—wearing traditional white robes, a turban and a tan cloak—reads from papers at a lectern against a plain brown background. Speaking quietly in an even voice, he tells the American people that he ordered the September 11 attacks because 'we are a free people' who wanted to 'regain the freedom' of their nation."</ref> In the 18-minute tape, played on Al-Jazeera, four days before the American presidential election, Bin Laden accused George W. Bush of negligence in the [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacking]] of the planes on September 11.<ref name="cbc-2004" /> He said he was inspired to destroy the World Trade Center after watching the [[Siege of Beirut|destruction of towers in Lebanon]] by Israel during the [[1982 Lebanon War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3966817.stm |title=Excerpts: Bin Laden video |work=BBC News |date=29 October 2004 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006091233/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3966817.stm |archive-date=6 October 2010 }}</ref> Through two other tapes aired by Al Jazeera in 2006, Bin Laden announced, "I am the one in charge of the nineteen brothers. ... I was responsible for entrusting the nineteen brothers ... with the raids" (23 May 2006).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12939961 |title=Osama bin Laden tape transcript |date=23 May 2006 |publisher=NBC News |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=13 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213030202/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12939961 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the tapes, he was seen with [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], as well as two of the 9/11 hijackers, [[Hamza al-Ghamdi]] and [[Wail al-Shehri]], as they made preparations for the attacks (videotape broadcast 7 September 2006).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-9-11-planning-video-aired-1.618703 |title=Bin Laden 9/11 planning video aired |publisher=CBC News |date=7 September 2006 |access-date=28 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013183902/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/bin-laden-9-11-planning-video-aired-1.618703 |archive-date=13 October 2007 }}</ref>

== Manhunt and activities after the September 11 attacks ==
=== Bush administration ===
{{Main|Manhunt for Osama bin Laden}}
[[File:A bounty leaflect prepared by the USA for use in Afghanistan (front) -a.jpg|thumb|A leaflet made by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] which was distributed in Afghanistan, showing a bounty for Bin Laden|left]]
In response to the attacks, the United States launched the [[war on terror]] to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks. The CIA's [[Special Activities Division]] was given the lead in tracking down and killing or capturing Bin Laden.<ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Greg |date=14 July 2009 |title=CIA's secret program: paramilitary teams to strike Al Qaeda |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-14-na-cia-cheney14-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205200538/http://articles.latimes.com/print/2009/jul/14/nation/na-cia-cheney14 |archive-date=5 February 2016 |access-date=19 June 2020 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |page=A1}}</ref> U.S. officials named Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda organization as the prime suspects and offered a reward of $25&nbsp;million for information leading to his capture or death.<ref name="fbiwantednotice">{{cite web |title=Most Wanted Terrorist – Usama Bin Laden |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060310055924/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm |archive-date=10 March 2006 |access-date=26 May 2010 |publisher=FBI}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov03/laden110503.htm |title=Five Years Ago Today – Usama Bin Laden: Wanted for Murder |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |date=5 November 2003 |access-date=27 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109080055/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov03/laden110503.htm |archive-date=9 January 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> On 13 July 2007, the Senate voted to double the reward to $50&nbsp;million, although the amount was never changed.<ref name="BBCJuly07">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6898075.stm |title=Senate doubles Bin Laden reward |work=BBC News |date=13 July 2007 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808104324/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6898075.stm |archive-date=8 August 2010 }}</ref> The [[Airline Pilots Association]] and the [[Air Transport Association]] offered an additional $2&nbsp;million reward.<ref>{{Cite news |author1=Katie Turner |author2=Pam Benson |author3=Peter Bergen |author4=Elise Labott |author5=Nic Robertson |publisher=CNN |date=24 September 2006 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html |title=Officials, friends can't confirm Bin Laden death report |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326042339/http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/index.html |archive-date=26 March 2010 }}</ref>

While referring to Bin Laden in a [[CNN]] film clip on 17 September 2001, then-president George W. Bush stated, "I want justice. There is an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or alive'".<ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 2011 |title=2001, President George W. Bush 'Bin Laden, Wanted dead or alive' |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgn4EaCGQA |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722005532/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgn4EaCGQA |archive-date=22 July 2013 |access-date=7 January 2012 |publisher=CNN}}</ref> Subsequently, Bin Laden retreated further from public contact to avoid capture. Numerous speculative press reports were issued about his whereabouts or even death; some placed Bin Laden in different locations during overlapping time periods.

On 10 October 2001, Bin Laden appeared as well on the initial list of the top 22 [[FBI Most Wanted Terrorists]], which was released to the public by the George W. Bush administration and based on the indictment for the 1998 embassy attack. Bin Laden was among a group of 13 fugitive terrorists wanted on that latter list for questioning about the 1998 attack. He remains the only fugitive ever to be listed on both FBI fugitive lists.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Despite these multiple indictments, the Taliban refused to extradite Osama bin Laden. However, they did offer to try him before an Islamic court if evidence of Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks was provided. It was not until eight days after the bombing of Afghanistan began in October 2001 that the Taliban finally did offer to turn over Osama bin Laden to a third-party country for trial, in return for the U.S. ending the bombing. This offer was rejected by George W. Bush, stating that this was no longer negotiable: "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty."<ref>{{Cite news |date=14 October 2001 |title=Bush rejects Taliban offer to hand Bin Laden over |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825195435/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/14/afghanistan.terrorism5 |archive-date=25 August 2013 |access-date=27 May 2010 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
{{Multiple images
| image1            = Delta force GIs disguised as Afghan civilians, November 2001 C.jpg
| caption1          = [[Delta Force]] GIs disguised as Afghan civilians, while they searched for Bin Laden in November 2001
| image2            = Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri 2001.jpg
| caption2          = Bin Laden and [[Ayman al-Zawahiri]] in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2001
| direction         = vertical
| align             = right
}}
Bin Laden was believed to be hiding in the [[Spin Ghar|White Mountains (Spin Ghar)]] in Afghanistan's east, near the [[Durand Line|Pakistani border]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-111SPRT53709/html/CPRT-111SPRT53709.htm|title=Tora Bora Revisited: How We Failed to Get Bin Laden and Why It Matters Today|access-date=24 July 2021|archive-date=20 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120161725/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-111SPRT53709/html/CPRT-111SPRT53709.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1006946289469823000|title = As the Search for Bin Laden Intensifies, U.S. Moves Hunt to Spin Ghar Range|newspaper = Wall Street Journal|date = 29 November 2001|access-date = 24 July 2021|archive-date = 24 July 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210724164258/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1006946289469823000|url-status = live}}</ref> According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the US government concluded that Bin Laden was present during the [[Battle of Tora Bora]], Afghanistan, in late 2001, and according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge, failure by the U.S. to commit enough U.S. ground troops to hunt him led to his escape and was the gravest failure by the U.S. in the war against al-Qaeda. Intelligence officials assembled what they believed to be decisive evidence, from contemporary and subsequent interrogations and intercepted communications, that Bin Laden began the Battle of Tora Bora inside the cave complex along Afghanistan's mountainous eastern border.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Gellman |first1=Barton |last2=Ricks |first2=Thomas E. |title=U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62618-2002Apr16 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080516112147/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62618-2002Apr16 |url-status=dead |archive-date= 16 May 2008 |date=17 April 2002 |access-date=25 May 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

On 11 December 2005, a letter from [[Atiyah Abd al-Rahman]] to [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]] indicated that Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were based in the [[Waziristan]] region of Pakistan at the time. In the letter, translated by the United States military's [[Combating Terrorism Center]] at [[West Point]], Atiyah instructs al-Zarqawi to send messengers to Waziristan so that they meet with the brothers of the leadership. Al-Rahman also indicates that Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are weak and have many of their own problems. The letter has been deemed authentic by military and counterterrorism officials, according to ''The Washington Post''.<ref>{{cite news |last=DeYoung |first=Karen |date=2 October 2006 |title=Letter Gives Glimpse of Al-Qaeda's Leadership |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101083.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425085210/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/01/AR2006100101083.html |archive-date=25 April 2010 |access-date=20 May 2010 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=25 September 2006 |title=Letter Exposes New Leader in Al-Qa'ida High Command (PDF) |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808182757/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/harmony/CTC-AtiyahLetter.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2007 |access-date=20 May 2010 |publisher=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point}}</ref>

''The Washington Post'' also reported that the CIA unit composed of special operations paramilitary forces dedicated to capturing Bin Laden was shut down in late 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400375.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=CIA Reportedly Disbands Bin Laden Unit |agency=Associated Press |date=4 July 2006 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112023538/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/04/AR2006070400375.html |archive-date=12 November 2012 }}</ref>

U.S. and Afghanistan forces raided the mountain caves in [[Tora Bora]] between 14 and 16 August 2007. The military was drawn to the area after receiving intelligence of a pre-[[Ramadan]] meeting held by al-Qaeda members. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either Bin Laden or al-Zawahiri.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna21000298 |title=Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces |publisher=NBC News |author1=Justin Balding |author2=Adam Ciralsky |author3=Jim Miklaszewski |author4=Robert Windrem |date=26 September 2007 |access-date=25 May 2010 |archive-date=11 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131011041830/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21000298/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Al-Qaeda continued to release time-sensitive and professionally verified videos demonstrating Bin Laden's continued survival, including in August 2007.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 September 2007 |title=Experts warn of attack clues in Bin Laden video |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_EKAnlECgMVCrglrdYA5IqvQ6hQ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408035426/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_EKAnlECgMVCrglrdYA5IqvQ6hQ |archive-date=8 April 2008 |access-date=25 May 2010 |agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref> He claimed sole responsibility for the September 11 attacks and specifically denied any prior knowledge of them by the Taliban or the Afghan people.<ref>{{cite news |date=29 November 2007 |title=Bin Laden urges Europe to quit Afghanistan |url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2912911920071129?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112053348/http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2912911920071129?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 |archive-date=12 January 2009 |work=Reuters}}</ref>

=== Obama administration ===
On 7 October 2008, in the [[2008 United States presidential debates|second debate]] of that year's U.S. presidential election, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged, "We will kill Bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."<ref name="ToraBora">{{cite news |last=Arena |first=Kelli |title=Obama administration to ratchet up hunt for Bin Laden |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/12/binladen.hunt/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119085751/http://articles.cnn.com/2008-11-12/politics/binladen.hunt|url-status=live|archive-date=19 January 2013 |publisher=CNN |access-date=15 November 2008 |date=28 December 2001}}</ref> Upon being elected, Obama expressed his plans to renew and ramp up the U.S. search for Bin Laden.<ref name="ToraBora" /> Obama rejected the Bush administration's policy on Bin Laden that conflated all terror threats from al-Qaeda to [[Hamas]] to [[Hezbollah]], replacing it with a covert, narrow focus on al-Qaeda and its direct affiliates.<ref>{{cite news |last=Serwer |first=Adam |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-killing-of-bin-laden-does-not-represent-continuity-with-bush/2011/03/04/AFJbo3YG_blog.html |title=No, killing of Bin Laden does not represent 'continuity' with Bush – The Plum Line |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=7 February 2011 |access-date=15 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512022810/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/no-killing-of-bin-laden-does-not-represent-continuity-with-bush/2011/03/04/AFJbo3YG_blog.html |archive-date=12 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Hirsh|first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hirsh (journalist) |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/vantage-point/obama-s-war-against-al-qaida-20110505 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507100857/http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/vantage-point/obama-s-war-against-al-qaida-20110505 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 May 2011 |title=Obama's War |date=5 May 2011 |work=National Journal |access-date=15 May 2011 }}</ref>

{{Multiple images
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Osama bin Laden compound1.jpg
| caption1          = [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|Bin Laden's compound]] in [[Abbottabad, Pakistan]]
| image2            = Osama bin Laden hideout-en.svg
| caption2          = A diagram of the compound
| total_width       = 300
}}

In 2009, a research team led by [[Thomas Gillespie (geographer)|Thomas Gillespie]] and [[John A. Agnew]] of [[UCLA]] used satellite-aided geographical analysis to pinpoint three compounds in [[Parachinar]] as Bin Laden's likely hideouts.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gillespie |first=Thomas W. |display-authors=etal |year=2009 |title=Finding Osama bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery |url=http://web.mit.edu/mitir/2009/online/finding-bin-laden.pdf |url-status=live |journal=MIT International Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805125236/http://web.mit.edu/mitir/2009/online/finding-bin-laden.pdf |archive-date=5 August 2010 |access-date=20 May 2010}}</ref> In March 2009, the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' reported that the hunt for Bin Laden had centered in the [[Chitral District]] of Pakistan, including the [[Kalam Valley]]. Author [[Rohan Gunaratna]] stated that captured al-Qaeda leaders had confirmed that Bin Laden was hiding in Chitral.<ref>Meek, James Gordon, "Tighten The Net on Evil", ''[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]'', 2009-03-15, p. 27.</ref> Pakistan's prime minister [[Yousaf Raza Gillani|Gillani]] rejected claims that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.<ref>{{cite news |date=3 December 2009 |title=Bin Laden not in Pakistan, PM says |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/pakistan.bin.laden/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206225704/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/pakistan.bin.laden/index.html |archive-date=6 December 2009 |access-date=20 May 2010 |publisher=CNN}}</ref>

Early in December 2009, a Taliban detainee in Pakistan said he had information that Bin Laden was in Afghanistan that year; he said that in January or February 2009, he met a trusted contact who had seen Bin Laden in Afghanistan about 15 to 20 days earlier.<ref name=":5">{{cite news |date=6 December 2009 |title=No Bin Laden information in years, says Gates |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8397684.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091206051926/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8397684.stm |archive-date=6 December 2009 |access-date=20 May 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref> However, on 6 December 2009, U.S. Secretary of Defense [[Robert Gates]] stated that the United States had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of Bin Laden in years.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> On 9 December, General [[Stanley McChrystal]], the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said that al-Qaeda would not be defeated unless Bin Laden were captured or killed, thus indicating that the U.S. high command believed that he was still alive. Testifying to the U.S. Congress, he said that Bin Laden had become an iconic figure, whose survival emboldens al-Qaeda as a franchising organization across the world, and that Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant that success would be possible. He said killing or capturing Bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but the movement could not be eradicated while he remained at large.<ref name=":6">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8402138.stm |title=Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat |work=BBC News |date=9 December 2009 |access-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428192959/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8402138.stm |archive-date=28 April 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=9 December 2009 |title=Gen McChrystal: Bin Laden is key to al-Qaeda defeat |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8402138.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723112633/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8402138.stm |archive-date=23 July 2012 |access-date=21 October 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

In a 2010 letter, Bin Laden chastised followers who had reinterpreted ''al-tatarrus''—an Islamic doctrine meant to excuse the unintended killing of non-combatants in unusual circumstances—to justify routine massacres of Muslim civilians, which had turned Muslims against the extremist movement. Of the groups affiliated with al-Qaeda, Bin Laden condemned [[Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan]] for an attack on members of a hostile tribe, declaring that the operation is not justified, as there were casualties of noncombatants. Bin Laden wrote that the ''tatarrus'' doctrine needs to be revisited based on the modern-day context and clear boundaries established. He asked a subordinate to draw up a jihadist code of conduct that would constrain military operations in order to avoid civilian casualties. In Yemen, Bin Laden urged his allies to seek a truce that would bring the country stability, or would at least show the people that they were careful in keeping Muslims safe on the basis of peace. In Somalia, he called attention to the extreme poverty caused by constant warfare, and he advised [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|al-Shabab]] to pursue economic development. He instructed his followers around the world to focus on education and persuasion rather than entering into confrontations with Islamic political parties.<ref>{{cite news |last=Saletan |first=William |author-link=William Saletan |date=4 May 2012 |title=Reflections of a Terrorist |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/05/bin_laden_s_documents_al_qaida_letters_show_the_moral_and_political_failure_of_terrorism_.single.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506033547/http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/05/bin_laden_s_documents_al_qaida_letters_show_the_moral_and_political_failure_of_terrorism_.single.html |archive-date=6 May 2012 |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]}}</ref>

On 2 February 2010, Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai]] arrived in Saudi Arabia for an official visit. The agenda included a discussion of a possible Saudi role in Karzai's plan to reintegrate Taliban militants. During the visit, an anonymous official of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Saudi Arabia)|Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry]] declared that the kingdom had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled Osama bin Laden.<ref name="Expel">{{cite news |date=2 February 2010 |title=Saudi Arabia Wants Taliban to Expel Bin Laden |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/saudi-arabia-wants-taliban-to-expel-bin-laden/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214053455/https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/saudi-arabia-wants-taliban-to-expel-bin-laden/ |archive-date=14 February 2021 |access-date=11 February 2011 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> On 7 June 2010, the Kuwaiti newspaper ''[[Al-Seyassah]]'' reported that Bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous town of [[Sabzevar]], in northeastern Iran.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 June 2010 |title=Kuwaiti Daily 'Al-Siyassa': Bin Laden, Al-Zawahiri Guarded by Iranian Troops in Iranian Territory |url=http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=4338 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613123449/http://www.memrijttm.org/content/en/report.htm?report=4338 |archive-date=13 June 2010 |access-date=26 January 2011 |publisher=Memrijttm.org}}</ref> On 9 June, ''[[The Australian]]'''s online edition repeated the claim.<ref>{{cite news |date=9 June 2010 |title=Bin Laden, aides 'hiding in Iran' |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/bin-laden-aides-hiding-in-iran/story-fn3dxity-1225877288776 |work=The Australian}}</ref> This report turned out to be false.

On 18 October 2010, an unnamed [[NATO]] official suggested that Bin Laden was alive, well, and living comfortably in Pakistan, protected by elements of the country's intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official denied the allegations and said that the accusations were designed to put pressure on the Pakistani government ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between Pakistan and the U.S.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crilly |first=Rob |date=18 October 2010 |title=Osama bin Laden 'living comfortably in Pakistan' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8070836/Osama-bin-Laden-living-comfortably-in-Pakistan.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020044227/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8070836/Osama-bin-Laden-living-comfortably-in-Pakistan.html |archive-date=20 October 2010 |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London}}</ref>

In April 2011, various U.S. intelligence outlets traced Bin Laden to [[Abbottabad]], Pakistan. It was previously believed that he was hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan's [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]], but he was found {{convert|100|mi|km|order=flip|abbr=on}} away in a three-story [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad|mansion in Abbottabad]] at {{Coord|34|10|9.51|N|73|14|32.78|E|scale:10|display=inline}},<ref name="ZengerleBull">{{cite news |last=Zengerle |first=Patricia |author2=Bull, Alister |date=2 May 2011 |title=Bin Laden was found at luxurious Pakistan compound |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-binladen-compound-idUSTRE7411NX20110502 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503050450/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/02/us-binladen-compound-idUSTRE7411NX20110502 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |work=Reuters}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/05/osama-bin-laden-pakistan-locals-flock-house Osama bin Laden death: Pakistan locals flock to see villain's lair] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927193629/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/05/osama-bin-laden-pakistan-locals-flock-house|date=27 September 2016}} Declan Walsh ''[[The Guardian]]'' 5 May 2011</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 2011 |title=Map of Where Osama bin Laden Was Killed – Map |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/02/world/asia/abbottabad-map-of-where-osama-bin-laden-was-killed.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505205356/http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/05/02/world/asia/abbottabad-map-of-where-osama-bin-laden-was-killed.html |archive-date=5 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> {{convert|0.8|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} southwest of the [[Pakistan Military Academy]].<ref>{{cite news |date=7 June 2011 |title=Osama bin Laden's death: How it happened |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503041240/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330 |archive-date=3 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |work=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 2011 |title=Osama bin Laden, the face of terror, killed in Pakistan |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bin.laden.obit/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506084553/http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/01/bin.laden.obit/index.html |archive-date=6 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2 May 2011 |title=Spitzer: What role did Pakistan play in the killing of Osama bin Laden? – In the Arena |url=http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/spitzer-what-role-did-pakistan-play-in-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505062124/http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/spitzer-what-role-did-pakistan-play-in-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden/ |archive-date=5 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |publisher=CNN}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=President Obama Praises Troops Who Killed Osama bin Laden |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/osama-bin-laden-death-prompts-celebrations-security-alerts/story?id=13507836 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504001033/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/osama-bin-laden-death-prompts-celebrations-security-alerts/story?id=13507836 |archive-date=4 May 2011 |access-date=2 May 2011 |publisher=ABC news}}</ref> Imagery from [[Google Earth]] indicates that the compound was built between 2001 and 2005.<ref>{{cite web |date=2 May 2011 |title=Finding Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad mansion with Google Earth |url=http://ogleearth.com/2011/05/finding-osama-bin-ladens-abbottabad-mansion-with-google-earth/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107150234/http://ogleearth.com/2011/05/finding-osama-bin-ladens-abbottabad-mansion-with-google-earth/ |archive-date=7 November 2012 |access-date=31 October 2012}}</ref>

== Death and aftermath ==
{{Main|Killing of Osama bin Laden}}
{{See also|Reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden|Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories}}
[[File:Operation Neptune Spear map of locations (2).svg|thumb|upright=1.8<!-- large enough to be readable on an average computer screen...per MOS:IMAGESYNTAX "Images containing important detail (for example, a map, diagram, or chart) may need larger sizes than usual to make them readable." -->|Map showing the US operation from its bases in Afghanistan to Pakistan that killed Bin Laden, and the subsequent burial of his body at sea]]

Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by [[Navy Seal]] operatives in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on 2 May 2011,<ref>{{cite web |date=25 September 2012 |title=FBI – USAMA BIN LADEN |url=http://www.fbi.gov/a-z-index/wanted/wanted_terrorists/usama-bin-laden |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925024039/http://www.fbi.gov/a-z-index/wanted/wanted_terrorists/usama-bin-laden |archive-date=25 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Savage |first=Charlie |date=28 October 2015 |title=How 4 Federal Lawyers Paved the Way to Kill Osama bin Laden |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/obama-legal-authorization-osama-bin-laden-raid.html |access-date=23 April 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=8 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108171752/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/politics/obama-legal-authorization-osama-bin-laden-raid.html |url-status=live }}</ref> shortly after 1:00 AM [[Pakistan Standard Time|local time]] (4:00 PM [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern Time]] on 1 May 2011){{efn|Depending on the time zone, the date of his death may be different locally.}}<ref name="waposurveil">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-spied-on-bin-laden-from-safe-house/2011/05/05/AFXbG31F_story.html |title=CIA spied on Bin Laden from safe house |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=5 May 2011 |last=Miller |first=Greg |access-date=6 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510144552/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-spied-on-bin-laden-from-safe-house/2011/05/05/AFXbG31F_story.html |archive-date=10 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cooper |first=Helene |title=Obama Announces Killing of Osama bin Laden |date=1 May 2011 |url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-dead-u-s-official-says/ |work=The New York Times |access-date=1 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502033900/http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/bin-laden-dead-u-s-official-says/ |archive-date=2 May 2011 }}</ref> by a U.S. military [[special operations]] unit.<ref>{{cite web |date=7 August 1998 |title=Fbi – Usama bin Laden |url=https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515104052/http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden |archive-date=15 May 2011 |access-date=15 May 2011 |publisher=Fbi.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CNN.com – U.S. mulls $50 million Bin Laden bounty – Jan 24, 2005 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/24/binladen.reward/index.html |access-date=2023-06-18 |website=www.cnn.com |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618000307/https://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/24/binladen.reward/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The operation, code-named [[Operation Neptune Spear]], was ordered by Barack Obama in April 2011 and carried out in a CIA operation by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs from the [[United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group]] (also known as DEVGRU or informally by its former name, SEAL Team Six) of the [[Joint Special Operations Command]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Finkel|first=Gal Perl |url=http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14263 |title=Back to the ground?|work=[[Israel Hayom]] |date=8 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817075613/http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14263 |archive-date=17 August 2016}}</ref> with support from CIA operatives on the ground.<ref name="Sherwell">{{cite news |title=Osama bin Laden killed: Behind the scenes of the deadly raid |last=Sherwell |first=Philip |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=7 May 2011 |access-date=9 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510063758/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8500431/Osama-bin-Laden-killed-Behind-the-scenes-of-the-deadly-raid.html |archive-date=10 May 2011 }}</ref><ref name="CIAled">{{cite news |last=Dilanian |first=Ken |url=https://latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-osama-bin-laden-cia-20110502,0,6466214.story |title=CIA led U.S. special forces mission against Osama bin Laden |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2 May 2011 |access-date=14 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524113215/http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-osama-bin-laden-cia-20110502,0,6466214.story |archive-date=24 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Nate |date=28 April 2023 |title=Newly released White House photos capture the day Bin Laden was killed |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/28/obama-foia-bin-laden-raid/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230912131642/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/28/obama-foia-bin-laden-raid/ |archive-date=12 September 2023 |access-date=28 July 2023 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>

{{Multiple images
| image1            = Obama and Biden await updates on bin Laden.jpg
| caption1          = Members of the [[Obama administration]] in the [[Situation Room]], tracking the mission that killed Bin Laden
| image2            =
| caption2          = The FBI's website, listing Bin Laden as deceased on the [[FBI Most Wanted List|Most Wanted List]] on 3 May 2011
}}

The raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad was launched from Afghanistan.<ref name="aftermath">{{cite web |url=http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/04/the_bin_laden_aftermath_the_us_shouldnt_hold_pakistans_military_against_pakistans_c |title=The Bin Laden aftermath: The U.S. shouldn't hold Pakistan's military against Pakistan's civilians |last=Fair |first=C. Christine |date=4 May 2011 |work=[[Foreign Policy]] |access-date=10 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110509174818/http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/05/04/the_bin_laden_aftermath_the_us_shouldnt_hold_pakistans_military_against_pakistans_c |archive-date=9 May 2011 }}</ref> After the raid, reports at the time stated that U.S. forces had taken Bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for positive identification, then [[Burial at sea|buried it at sea]], in accordance with Islamic law, within 24 hours of his death.<ref name="ref-5">{{cite news |title=Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda leader, dead – Barack Obama |date=1 May 2011 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676 |work=BBC News |access-date=2 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110502034501/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676 |archive-date=2 May 2011 }}</ref> Subsequent reporting has called this account into question—citing, for example, the absence of evidence that there was an imam on board the {{USS|Carl Vinson}}, where the burial was said to have taken place.<ref name="SMHLRB" /> On 15 June 2011, U.S. federal prosecutors officially dropped all criminal charges against Bin Laden.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bray |first=Chad |date=17 June 2011 |title=U.S. Formally Drops Charges Against Bin Laden |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304453304576391563524482274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710010238/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304453304576391563524482274 |archive-date=10 July 2017 |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>

Pakistani authorities later demolished the compound in February 2012<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/asia/pakistan-razing-house-where-bin-laden-lived.html |title=Pakistan Razing House Where Bin Laden Lived |last=Walsh |first=Declan |date=25 February 2012 |work=The New York Times |access-date=25 February 2012 |archive-date=22 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222110434/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/world/asia/pakistan-razing-house-where-bin-laden-lived.html |url-status=live}}</ref> to prevent it from becoming a neo-Islamist shrine.<ref>{{cite news|title=Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound demolished|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-17169101|work=BBC News|access-date=28 April 2012|date=26 February 2012|archive-date=22 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422141802/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17169101|url-status=live}}</ref> In February 2013, Pakistan announced plans to build a [[Pakistani rupee|PKR]]&nbsp;265 million (US$30 million) amusement park in the area, including the property of the former hideout.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bin Laden hideout to become theme park|url=http://www.news24.com/Travel/International/Bin-Laden-hideout-to-become-theme-park-20130206|publisher=News 24|access-date=11 February 2013|date=6 February 2013|archive-date=27 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427235631/https://www.news24.com/Travel/International/Bin-Laden-hideout-to-become-theme-park-20130206|url-status=live}}</ref> In an interview in 2019, Pakistani prime minister [[Imran Khan]] claimed that Pakistani intelligence led the CIA to Osama bin Laden.<ref>{{Cite web|date=23 July 2019|title=Imran Khan claims Pakistani intelligence led CIA to Bin Laden|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20190723-imran-khan-bin-laden-pakistani-usa-cia-intelligence|access-date=4 May 2021|website=France 24|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504090408/https://www.france24.com/en/20190723-imran-khan-bin-laden-pakistani-usa-cia-intelligence|url-status=live}}</ref>

It was widely reported by the press that Bin Laden was fatally wounded by [[Robert J. O'Neill]]; however, it has also been widely discredited by witnesses, who claim that Bin Laden was possibly already dead by the time O'Neill arrived, having been injured by an anonymous SEAL Team Six member referred to under the pseudonym "Red".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Warrick |first1=Joby |title=Ex-SEAL Robert O'Neill reveals himself as shooter who killed Osama bin Laden |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ex-seal-robert-oneill-reveals-himself-as-shooter-who-killed-osama-bin-laden/2014/11/06/2bf46f3e-65dc-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html |access-date=17 November 2021 |date=6 November 2014 |archive-date=21 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210921024711/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ex-seal-robert-oneill-reveals-himself-as-shooter-who-killed-osama-bin-laden/2014/11/06/2bf46f3e-65dc-11e4-836c-83bc4f26eb67_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cole |first1=Matthew |title=The Crimes of Seal Team Six |date=10 January 2017 |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/ |publisher=The Intercept |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212151/https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/ |access-date=17 November 2021|archive-date=2 June 2021 }}</ref> According to Navy SEAL [[Matt Bissonnette (author)|Matt Bissonnette]], Bin Laden was struck by two suppressed shots to the side of the head from around ten feet away after leaning out of his bedroom doorway to survey Bissonnette and a point man. Once the Navy SEALs entered the bedroom, his body began convulsing and Bissonnette along with another SEAL responded by firing multiple shots into his chest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Owen |first=Mark |author-link=Matt Bissonnette (author) |title=[[No Easy Day]]: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden |date=4 September 2012 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-1-101-61130-2}}</ref>

On 29 March 2012, Pakistani newspaper [[Dawn (newspaper)|''Dawn'']] acquired a report produced by Pakistani security officials, based on interrogation of his three surviving wives, that detailed his movements while living underground in Pakistan.<ref name="NYTimes2012-03-30">{{cite news |last=Walsh |first=Declan |date=30 March 2012 |title=On the Run, Bin Laden Had 4 Children and 5 Houses, a Wife Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/on-run-bin-laden-had-4-children-and-5-houses-a-wife-says.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405184117/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/on-run-bin-laden-had-4-children-and-5-houses-a-wife-says.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print |archive-date=5 April 2012 |access-date=30 March 2012 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

=== Allegations of Pakistan support and protection of Bin Laden ===
{{Main|Alleged Pakistani support for Osama bin Laden}}

Bin Laden was killed within the fortified complex of buildings that were probably built for him,<ref>{{cite news |last=Westhead |first=Rick |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/984289 |title=Questions about Bin Laden embarrassing to Pakistan |work=Toronto Star |date=1 April 2011 |access-date=3 May 2011 |location=Toronto |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202134937/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/05/03/questions_about_bin_laden_embarrassing_to_pakistan.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and had reportedly been his home for at least five years.<ref>{{cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/06/osama-bin-laden-lived-two-rooms |title=Osama bin Laden lived in two rooms for five years, wife says |work=The Guardian |date=6 May 2011 |access-date=12 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930084223/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/06/osama-bin-laden-lived-two-rooms |archive-date=30 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Reuters |url=https://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-bin-laden-lived-in-pakistan-compound-for-at-least-5-years-1.359578 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506130336/http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/u-s-bin-laden-lived-in-pakistan-compound-for-at-least-5-years-1.359578 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 May 2011 |title=U.S.: Bin Laden lived in Pakistan compound for at least 5 years |work=Haaretz |date=3 May 2011 |access-date=7 January 2012 }}</ref> The compound was located less than {{convert|1|mi|km|0|order=flip}} from the [[Pakistan Military Academy]] and less than {{convert|100|km|mi}} from Pakistan's capital.<ref name="Sherwell" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-may-06-la-fg-osama-builder-20110506-story.html |title=Mystery shrouds the quiet man who built Bin Laden's compound |work=Los Angeles Times |date=6 May 2011 |access-date=12 May 2011 |first=Alex |last=Rodriguez |archive-date=25 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725230819/http://articles.latimes.com/print/2011/may/06/world/la-fg-osama-builder-20110506 |url-status=live }}</ref> While the United States and Pakistan governments both claimed, and later maintained, that no Pakistani officials, including senior military leaders, knew Bin Laden's whereabouts or had prior knowledge of the U.S. strike,<ref>{{cite web |last=Ross |first=Brian |title=Osama bin Laden Killed: U.S. Intelligence Probes Possible Pakistani Support System |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed-us-probes-pakistan-support/story?id=13516775 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=3 May 2011|access-date=3 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505010148/https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed-us-probes-pakistan-support/story?id=13516775 |archive-date=5 May 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Laskar|first=Rezaul H |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/osama-raid-took-pakistan-army-by-surprise/20110726.htm |title=Osama raid took Pakistan Army by surprise |agency=Press Trust of India|date=26 July 2011 |work=Rediff.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110924200148/http://www.rediff.com/news/report/osama-raid-took-pakistan-army-by-surprise/20110726.htm |archive-date=24 September 2011 }}</ref> [[Carlotta Gall]], writing in ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]'' in 2014, reported that ISI Director General [[Ahmad Shuja Pasha]] knew of Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gall|first=Carlotta |author-link=Carlotta Gall |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/what-pakistan-knew-about-bin-laden.html |title=What Pakistan Knew About Bin Laden |date=19 March 2014 |access-date=20 March 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320022921/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/what-pakistan-knew-about-bin-laden.html |archive-date=20 March 2014 }}</ref> In a 2015 ''[[London Review of Books]]'' article, investigative reporter [[Seymour M. Hersh]] asserted—citing U.S. sources—that Bin Laden had been a prisoner of the ISI at the Abbottabad compound since 2006; that Pasha knew of the U.S. mission in advance, and authorized the helicopters delivering the SEALs to enter Pakistani airspace; and that the CIA learned of Bin Laden's whereabouts from a former senior Pakistani intelligence of Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who was paid an estimated $25&nbsp;million for the information.<ref name="SMHLRB">{{cite news |last=Hersh |first=Seymour M. |newspaper=London Review of Books |url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden |title=The Killing of Osama bin Laden |pages=3–12 |date=21 May 2015 |access-date=3 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510191921/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden |archive-date=10 May 2015 }}</ref> Both stories were denied by U.S. and Pakistani officials.

Mosharraf Zia, a leading Pakistani columnist, stated, "It seems deeply improbable that Bin Laden could have been where he was killed without the knowledge of some parts of the Pakistani state."<ref>{{cite news |title=Levin questions Pakistan's role |last=Schultz |first=Marisa |work=The Detroit News |date=3 May 2011 |page=7A}}</ref> Pakistan's U.S. envoy, [[List of ambassadors of Pakistan to the United States|Ambassador]] [[Husain Haqqani]], promised a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services could have failed to find Bin Laden in a fortified compound so close to Islamabad. "Obviously Bin Laden did have a support system", he said. "The issue is, was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan, or within the society of Pakistan?"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ph.news.yahoo.com/death-bin-laden-live-report-013459906.html |title=Death of Bin Laden: Live report |publisher=Yahoo! |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118191002/http://ph.news.yahoo.com/death-bin-laden-live-report-013459906.html |archive-date=18 January 2012 }}</ref>

Others argued that Bin Laden lived in the compound with a local family, and never used the internet or a mobile phone, which would have made him much easier to locate.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2012/11/inside-osama-bin-laden-assassination-plot |title=Inside Osama bin Laden's Final Hours—and How the White House Chose Their Assassination Plot |last=Bowden|first=Mark |magazine=Vanity Fair |date=12 October 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218012602/http://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2012/11/inside-osama-bin-laden-assassination-plot |archive-date=18 February 2016 }}</ref> Pakistan's president [[Asif Ali Zardari]] denied that his country's security forces sheltered Bin Laden, and called any supposed support for Bin Laden by the Pakistani government baseless speculation.<ref name="yahar">{{cite news |first1=Nahal |last1=Toosi |author-link1=Nahal Toosi|first2=Zarar |last2=Khan |agency=Associated Press |url=http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Pakistans-president-denies-apf-1756634910.html |title=Pakistan's president denies harboring Bin Laden |publisher=Yahoo Finance |date=3 May 2011 |access-date=6 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119231114/http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/Pakistans-president-denies-apf-1756634910.html |archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/zardari-defends-pakistan-over-bin-laden-intel-2011-05-03-1.388294 |title=Zardari defends Pakistan over intel |publisher=Emirates 24/7 |date=3 May 2011 |access-date=3 May 2011 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607161800/https://www.emirates247.com/news/world/zardari-defends-pakistan-over-intel-2011-05-03-1.388294 |url-status=live }}</ref> Government officials said that the country's limited resources had been committed to its war against the [[Pakistan Taliban]], and other insurgents who posed an active threat to it, rather than to finding or sheltering Bin Laden.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Karon|first1=Tony |last2=Waraich|first2=Omar |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1948207,00.html |title=Under U.S. Pressure, Pakistan Balks at Helping on Afghan Taliban |date=17 December 2009 |magazine=Time |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101093302/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1948207,00.html |archive-date=1 January 2016 }}</ref> Coll states that as of 2019 there is no direct evidence showing Pakistani knowledge of Bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad. Documents captured from the Abbottabad compound generally show that Bin Laden was wary of contact with Pakistani intelligence and police, especially in light of Pakistan's role in the arrest of [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]].<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Steve Coll|last=Coll|first=Steve|title=Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan|publisher=[[Penguin Group]]|year=2019|isbn=978-0-14-313250-9|pages=547–554}}</ref>

The [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. Military]], utilizing one of [[Palantir Technologies]]' core software platforms, [[Gotham]], described as an "Operating System for Defense Decision Making," successfully located Osama bin Laden in his hideout in 2011.<ref>The War Lab. By: Kyiv, Vera Bergengruen |, Dickstein, Leslie, Shah, Simmone, TIME Magazine, 0040781X, 2/26/2024, Vol. 203, Issue 5/6</ref>
<ref>DONALD TRUMP, PALANTIR, AND THE CRAZY BATTLE TO CLEAN UP A MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR MILITARY PROCUREMENT SWAMP. By: Brill, Steven, Fortune, 00158259, 4/1/2017, Vol. 175, Issue 5</ref>

== Reception and legacy ==
{{Further information|Aftermath of the September 11 attacks|Aftermath of the Afghanistan War (2001–2021)|Post-9/11}}
[[File:Bin Laden wanted deceased.png|thumb|The FBI Most Wanted webpage for Bin Laden in late 2011]]
During the early 2000s, despite condemnations from U.S-allied governments in the Arab world, anti-American protestors from Pakistan to [[Palestinian territories]] used his portraits during their protests, speeches and public campaigns.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=J. Cull, Culbert, Welch |first=Nicholas, David, David |title=Propaganda and mass persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present |publisher=ABC-CLIO, Inc. |year=2003 |isbn=1-57607-820-5 |location=Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911, USA |pages=20, 222 |quote="While many Middle Eastern countries have condemned.. Al Qaeda and have shown support to the United States, Bin Laden’s reputation has reached cult status among some Arabs, who see him as the hero of the resistance against Western domination...  In the wider Middle Eastern region, Bin Laden became a folk hero to the poor and disenfranchised: his picture appeared in bazaars in Pakistan and was placed in the hands of demonstrators in the Gaza strip. No Arab leader had commanded such popular appeal since Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) in the 1950s."}}</ref> His popularity in the Muslim world reached its apex through the course of the [[Iraq War]]; during which opinion polls conducted in some countries gave him 50% – 60% favourable ratings.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Klausen |first=Jytte |title=Western Jihadism: A Thirty-Year History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-19-887079-1 |location=Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2 6dp, United Kingdom |pages=69 |chapter=2: The Founder}}</ref><ref name="auto1" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Obaid |first1=Nawaf |date=28 June 2004 |title=Opinion &#124; an unprecedented poll of Saudi opinion : Yes to Bin Laden rhetoric; no to al Qaeda violence (Published 2004) |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/opinion/an-unprecedented-poll-of-saudi-opinion-yes-to-bin-laden-rhetoric-no.html |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810230126/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/28/opinion/an-unprecedented-poll-of-saudi-opinion-yes-to-bin-laden-rhetoric-no.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Poll: Bin Laden tops Musharraf in Pakistan |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/11/poll.pakistanis/index.html |website=[[CNN.com]] |access-date=9 August 2023 |archive-date=11 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811001425/https://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/11/poll.pakistanis/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, at his death, Arab reaction was described as "muted", overshadowed by the beginning of the [[Arab Spring]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sly |first=Liz |date=2011-05-03 |title=Arab response to bin Laden's death muted |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/war-zones/arab-response-to-bin-ladens-death-muted/2011/05/02/AF69WLcF_story.html |access-date=2025-04-06 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The [[Pew Research Center]] found in 2011 that support for Bin Laden and al-Qaeda had declined steadily across a number of Muslim countries, and was as low as 1% in Lebanon, describing him as "discredited".<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2011-05-02 |title=Osama bin Laden Largely Discredited Among Muslim Publics in Recent Years |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-largely-discredited-among-muslim-publics-in-recent-years/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Latin America]]n political leaders expressed opposition to Bin Laden, with Peruvian president [[Alan García]] calling him "demonic"; however, at his death, some leftist Latin American leaders also denounced the United States for violating Pakistani sovereignty to target Bin Laden.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-05-04 |title=Bin Laden's death: miracle or murder? |url=https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2011/05/04/inenglish/1304486444_850210.html |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=[[El País]] |language=en}}</ref> His death was celebrated in India, and the fact that he was found in Pakistan was regarded as cause for concern due to the complex [[India–Pakistan relations|Indo-Pakistani]] relationship.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Joseph |first=Manu |date=2011-05-11 |title=Bin Laden's Killing as Seen From India |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/world/asia/12iht-letter12.html |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> During a June 2020 Pakistani parliament session, Prime Minister [[Imran Khan]] denounced Bin Laden's killing, labelling it as "an embarrassing moment" in their country's history, and also praised Bin Laden as a ''[[Shaheed]]'' (martyr).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Masood |first=Salman |date=26 June 2020 |title=Pakistan's Prime Minister Suggests Osama Bin Laden Was a Martyr |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/world/asia/pakistan-imran-khan-bin-laden-martyr.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200628031107/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/world/asia/pakistan-imran-khan-bin-laden-martyr.html |archive-date=28 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 June 2020 |title=Pakistan PM Imran Khan calls Osama bin Laden 'martyr' in Parliament |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-calls-osama-bin-laden-shaheed/article61664305.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518134945/https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-calls-osama-bin-laden-shaheed/article61664305.ece |archive-date=18 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 June 2020 |title=Pakistan PM Imran Khan calls Osama Bin Laden a 'martyr' in Parliament |work=WION |url=https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-calls-osama-bin-laden-a-martyr-in-parliament-308587 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627092951/https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-calls-osama-bin-laden-a-martyr-in-parliament-308587 |archive-date=27 June 2020}}</ref>

Bin Laden is a reviled figure in the Western world, where he is regarded as a terrorist and mass murderer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bergen |first1=Peter |title=Opinion: Osama bin Laden was a mass murderer, not a TikTok influencer |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/opinions/osama-bin-laden-was-a-mass-murderer-not-a-tiktok-influencer-bergen/index.html |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=September 2, 2024 |date=November 17, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite news |last1=Zernike |first1=Kate |last2=Kaufman |first2=Michael T. |date=2011-05-02 |title=The Most Wanted Face of Terrorism |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/02osama-bin-laden-obituary.html |access-date=2025-04-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His obituary in the ''New York Times'' referred to him as "the North Star" of global terrorism, seen by Americans as equivalent to "[[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] or [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]."<ref name=":8" /> [[Mark Hosenball]] wrote:
{{Blockquote|In history's long list of villains, bin Laden will find a special place. He ha[d] no throne, no armies, not even any real territory, aside from the rocky wastes of Afghanistan. But he ha[d] the power to make men willingly go to their deaths for the sole purpose of indiscriminately killing Americans—men, women and children. He [was] an unusual combination in the annals of hate, at once mystical and fanatical—and deliberate and efficient.|source=Mark Hosenball, 2001<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hosenball |first1=Mark |title=War on Terror: The Road To September 11 |url=https://www.newsweek.com/war-terror-road-september-11-151771 |website=[[Newsweek]] |access-date=September 2, 2024 |date=September 30, 2001|author-link=Mark Hosenball}}</ref>}}

== See also ==
* [[Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden]]
* {{anl|Islamic extremism}}
* {{anl|Islamic fundamentalism}}
* {{anl|Islamic terrorism}}
* [[List of assassinations by the United States]]
* [[Osama bin Laden in popular culture]]
* {{anl|Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism}}
* {{anl|The Golden Chain}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|25em}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bergen |year=2006 |title=The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&q=Osama+bin+Laden |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-7432-9592-7 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135134/https://books.google.com/books?id=_XkM92XMlQ4C&q=Osama+bin+Laden |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Bergen |first=Peter |year=2008 |title=Al Qaeda, the Organization: A Five-Year Forecast |journal=[[Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |volume=618 |pages=14–30 |jstor=40375772 |doi=10.1177/0002716208317599 |s2cid=145566133 | issn = 0002-7162 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gutman |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Gutman |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A9eqvc-Ru3cC&pg=PP1 |year=2008 |publisher=US Institute of Peace Press |isbn=978-1-60127-024-5 |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224123428/https://books.google.com/books?id=A9eqvc-Ru3cC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Scheuer |year=2002 |title=Through Our Enemies' Eyes |url=https://archive.org/details/throughourenemie00mich_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Washington, D.C.: Brassey's |isbn=1-57488-553-7 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Jessica |author-link=Jessica Stern |title=Terror in the Name of God |date=2003 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=0-06-050533-8 |edition=1 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Lawrence |author-link=Lawrence Wright |year=2006 |title=The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 |url=https://archive.org/details/loomingtoweralqa00wrig |url-access=registration |publisher=New York: Knopf |isbn=1-4000-3084-6 }}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last=Al-Bahri |first=Nasser |author-link=Nasser al-Bahri |year=2013 |title=Guarding Bin Laden: My Life in Al-Qaeda |publisher=Thin Man Press |isbn=978-0-9562473-6-0 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Atwan |first=Abdel Bari |author-link=Abdel Bari Atwan |year=2012 |title=After Bin Laden: Al-Qaeda, the Next Generation |url=https://archive.org/details/afterbinladenalq0000atwa |url-access=registration |publisher=Saqi |isbn=978-0-86356-419-2 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Atwan |first=Abdel Bari |year=2006 |title=The Secret History of Al-Qaeda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JL6MuAAACAAJ |publisher=Saqi |isbn=978-0-86356-760-5 |access-date=14 May 2020 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819132716/https://books.google.com/books?id=JL6MuAAACAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Berner |first=Brad K. |year=2007 |title=Quotations from Osama bin Laden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytwlNcIqYs0C&q=Osama+bin+Laden |publisher=Peacock Books |isbn=978-81-248-0113-0 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135021/https://books.google.com/books?id=ytwlNcIqYs0C&q=Osama+bin+Laden |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Bin Laden |first=Osama |editor-first=Bruce |editor-last=Lawrence |editor-link=Bruce Lawrence |translator-first=James |translator-last=Howarth |year=2005 |title=Messages to the World: the Statements of Osama bin Laden |url=https://archive.org/details/messagestoworlds00binl |url-access=registration |publisher=Verso |isbn=1-84467-045-7 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Burke |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Burke |year=2007 |title=Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-103136-1}}
* Foreign Broadcast Information Service (2006) – [https://fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf Compilation of Usama Bin Laden Statements 1994 – January 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711061832/http://fas.org/irp/world/para/ubl-fbis.pdf |date=11 July 2015 }}
* {{cite book |first=Andrea |last=Mura |title=The Symbolic Scenarios of Islamism: A Study in Islamic Political Thought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXu1CwAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |place=London |isbn=978-1-317-01450-8 |access-date=22 August 2017 |archive-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707131653/https://books.google.com/books?id=JXu1CwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Ibrahim |first=Raymond |author-link=Raymond Ibrahim |title=The Al Qaeda Reader |year=2007 |publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=978-0-7679-2262-3 |page=318 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tdx3M-bHj34C&q=raymond+ibrahim |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135038/https://books.google.com/books?id=Tdx3M-bHj34C&q=raymond+ibrahim |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Lahoud |first=Nelly |date=2022 |title=The Bin Laden Papers: How the Abbottabad Raid Revealed the Truth About al-Qaeda, Its Leader and His Family |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoppEAAAQBAJ |location=New Haven, CT |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-26063-2 |oclc=1310854369}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scheuer |first=Michael |year=2011 |title=Osama bin Laden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt-a30Z4_UUC&q=Osama%20bin%20Laden&pg=PP1 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973866-3 |access-date=18 November 2020 |archive-date=2 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201202135003/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vt-a30Z4_UUC&q=Osama+bin+Laden&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
'''Archival Documents'''
* [http://vault.fbi.gov/osama-bin-laden/osama-bin-laden-part-1-of-1/view Osama bin Laden] from FBI Records: The Vault
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/abbottabad-compound/index.html November 2017 Release of Abbottabad Compound Material] from [[CIA]], including Audio, Video, Images and Documents
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB343/index.htm The Osama bin Laden File] from the [[National Security Archive]], posted 2 May 2011
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120505212905/http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/letters-from-abbottabad-bin-ladin-sidelined Letters from Abbottabad (archived)] from [[Combating Terrorism Center]]
'''In the News'''
* {{Aljazeera topic|person/osama-bin-laden}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110506134150/http://www.dawn.com/osamabinladen Osama bin Laden] collected news and commentary at ''[[Dawn (newspaper)|Dawn]]''
* {{Guardian topic}}
* {{New York Times topic}}
* [https://www.jurist.org/news/tag/osama-bin-laden/ Osama bin Laden] news at [[JURIST]]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver Full text: Bin Laden's 'letter to America'], ''[[The Observer]]'', 24 November 2002
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/ Hunting Bin Laden], ''[[PBS Frontline]]'', (November 2002)
* [https://www.bhaskar.com/news-ep/INT-osama-bin-laden-facts-5313803-PHO.html "5 Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Osama bin Laden"], ''[[Dainik Bhaskar]]'', (May 2016)
* [https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/12/051212fa_fact?currentPage=all Young Osama] by Steve Coll, ''[[The New Yorker]]'', 12 December 2005
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110505074728/http://www.life.com/gallery/59991/how-the-world-sees-osama-bin-laden How the World Sees Osama bin Laden (archived 2011)]{{dash}} A photo slideshow by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine (Photos date from 2000 to 2010)

{{Osama bin Laden|state=expanded}}
{{Al-Qaeda}}
{{War on Terror}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Islam|Saudi Arabia|Afghanistan|Africa|United States|Pakistan|Modern history}}
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 |d       = Q1317
 |n       = Category:Osama bin Laden
 |q       = Osama bin Laden
 |s       = Author:Osama bin Laden
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