Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden's name is most frequently romanized from Arabic as Osama bin Laden, but can also be spelled with the names Usama and bin Ladin. During his life, U.S. intelligence generally referred to him internally as Usama bin Laden, acronymizing it as "UBL". He was named after Usama ibn Zayd, one of the companions of Muhammad; the name means "lion". Bin, also spelled ibn, means "son of" in Arabic. Osama's full name, as spelled here, is ''Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden—Osama, son of Muhammad, son of Awad, son of Laden. Muhammad is his father, spelled here as Muhammad bin Ladin. The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to Osama as Osama; Osama bin Laden; or similar romanizations, not bin Laden alone, as bin Laden is a patronymic surname, not a surname in the Western manner. In the West, he is nonetheless nicknamed bin Laden, which often begins sentences about him ("Bin Laden was..."), although, being at the start of a sentence, ibn would be more accurate to Arabic ("Ibn Laden was..."). Hajj is the traditional pilgrimage of Muslims to the holy city of Mecca. Abu Abdallah'' is a , a parent's name based on their child's; Abu means "father of", and Abdallah is his son. == Early life ==

Osama bin Laden was born on 10 March 1957 in Saudi Arabia. Researchers generally agree that his birthplace was Riyadh, which he himself claimed, though FBI and Interpol documents once listed it as Jeddah. Osama's father Muhammad was born in modern Yemen, and his mother, at the time named Alia Ghanem—later, Hamida al-Attas—was born in Syria. and the only one of Muhammad's marriage to al-Attas. From the 1950s to 70s, the family became immensely wealthy from the Saudi Binladin Group, a construction company owned by Osama's father. Its clients included the Saudi royal family, the House of Saud. The two had four children, and raised them alongside Osama in a new house. In USD, without adjusting for inflation, Osama's inheritance from him was estimated in 2000 to have been about $300 million, and in 2001, at about $50 to 60 million. Currently, the bin Laden family still owns the Saudi Binladin Group, and still has ties to the House of Saud. and then an English-language course in Oxford, England, in 1971. In the late 1970s, he started studying economics and business administration at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. One source claims that bin Laden left university during his third year without attaining a degree. Others say that he either earned a degree in civil engineering in 1979, or in public administration in 1981. In university, bin Laden's main interest was Islam. He studied the Quran and jihad, and did charity work. == Religious and political views ==

Bin Laden was raised into Sunni Islam, and he subscribed to the Athari school of Islamic theology, which interprets the Quran literally, rather than figuratively. He was reportedly an avid reader, and often quoted Bernard Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle. For religious reasons, he was against gambling, homosexuality, intoxicants, masturbation, music, premarital sex, and usury. He once wrote a letter to the American public (released posthumously) urging them to work with then-U.S. president Barack Obama's administration to prevent further climate change, and "save humanity" from the greenhouse gas emissions "that threaten its destiny". The Islamic world and systems of government Western sources consider bin Laden an Islamic extremist. The German intelligence agency BfV writes:"Islamist extremism [believes that] Islam is not only a personal or private affair, but that it should also rule social life and the political order or regulate at least part of it. This is in clear contradiction to the principles of the sovereignty of the people, the separation of state and religion, freedom of expression and general equal rights". by country in 2014The latter secularist ideas were adopted by much of the Islamic world over the 20th century. Thus, fewer Muslims stopped strictly following Islamic morality-based social rules, like those of Sharia (Islamic law), and this has been condemned by Islamic fundamentalism. Advocates for Islamic fundamentalist reform in politics are Islamists. In university, bin Laden read the works of multiple Islamists, including Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, his then-teacher; Sayyid Qutb; and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Salafis follow a strict form of Sharia based on a literal interpretation of the Quran. They claim that all non-Salafis, including other self-described Muslims, are kafir—non-believers of Islam—and thus will not see heaven. Wahhabism was the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia during bin Laden's adult life. Wahhabi beliefs, including the holiness of violence against non-Salafis, were directly taught to bin Laden and other students in Saudi schools from around the 1970s to 2010s. While bin Laden led al-Qaeda, it organized ideology classes that listed four principal enemies of Islam: Shia Islam, heretics of Islam, the U.S., and Israel. Bin Laden believed the Islamic world was in crisis due to being influenced by these enemies, and that only the complete restoration of Sharia within that world would correct it. He rejected other types of government as possible solutions to this perceived crisis, such as pan-Arabist, socialist, communist, and democratic systems. He once denounced democracy as a "religion of ignorance" that violates Islam by issuing man-made laws, instead of those made by God; journalist Max Rodenbeck wrote that bin Laden avoided "theological justifications for democracy, [which are] based on the notion that the will of the people must necessarily reflect the will of an all-knowing God." His views on the U.S. were detailed in two fatwas (non-binding rulings on Sharia matters) that he issued in 1996 and 1998, in both of which he declared war on the U.S.; his 1998 interview with American journalist John Miller; his 2002 Letter to the American People; and his 2004 video, His 1996 fatwa was issued for mainly this reason. especially those that had killed women and children; he particularly condemned America's funding and arming of Israel, which has historically killed and oppressed Muslims in Palestine. He believed violent jihad was needed to right these actions. In his 2001 video, he said: In his 2002 letter, he described the 1948 formation of the State of Israel as "a crime which must be erased". In his 1998 fatwa, bin Laden claimed the duty of every Muslim was to "liberate" two Islamic holy sites "from their [America's and Israel's] grip": Al-Aqsa in East Jerusalem, and Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. West Jerusalem has been controlled by Israel since 1948, while East Jerusalem was controlled by Jordan from 1948 until 1967, when an ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank began during the Six-Day War. The fatwa also condemned the concurrent international sanctions against Iraq, which the U.S. participated in. Lasting from 1990 to 2003, the sanctions largely damaged Iraq's economy, creating a humanitarian crisis. Bin Laden often referenced the resulting child deaths, Additionally, he called upon Americans to convert to Islam. Similar to what bin Laden intended, the U.S.' war in Afghanistan lasted for 20 years. Attacking civilians on 9/11 In his 1996 fatwa, bin Laden mentioned that his war against the U.S. would "not differentiate between [Americans] dressed in military uniforms, and civilians; they are all targets of this fatwa"."American history does not distinguish between civilians and military, not even women and children. They are the ones who used [a nuclear bomb] against Nagasaki. Can these bombs distinguish between infants and military? America does not have a religion that will prevent it from destroying all people."Bin Laden believed that all Americans, even civilians, are responsible for the U.S.' actions, as the country is a democracy, and because Americans pay taxes that fund their military. On 9/11, al-Qaeda targeted the World Trade Center, a business complex in New York City, and the Pentagon in Virginia, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Afterwards, bin Laden claimed that the women and children who died in the attacks were not al-Qaeda's intended targets, saying Muhammad condemned the killing of women and children; instead, "the main targets were the symbol of the United States: their economic and military power". In 2004, bin Laden said he was inspired to target the World Trade Center's Twin Towers (1 and 2 World Trade Center) as revenge for the destruction of towers in Beirut by U.S.-backed Israeli troops in the Siege of Beirut, during the 1982 Lebanon War. Judaism Bin Laden was heavily anti-Semitic. He said in his 1998 interview:) to pursue economic development and reduce Somalia's extreme poverty caused by constant warfare there. == Militant and political career, 1979–2001 ==

Soviet–Afghan War forces in Kunar Province in 1987In 1979, Muslim-majority Afghanistan was invaded by the mostly non-Muslim Soviet Union. As socialists, the Soviets backed the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, a socialist national government which was installed in a military coup in 1978. Leaving college, bin Laden went to Pakistan with Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and used money and machinery from the Saudi Binladin Group to help the Afghan mujahideen resist against the Soviets. Bin Laden later recalled: "I felt outraged that an injustice had been committed against the people of Afghanistan." He likely moved there with the knowledge and support of the Saudi Arabian government, which opposed the Soviet occupation. Bin Laden funded it with his inheritance of his family's fortune. MaK paid for fighters' flight tickets and other travel services. He also established camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Although the U.S. provided money and weapons, the militants' training was entirely done by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the ISI. Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. did not train or fund bin Laden's followers directly; according to Mohammad Yousaf, then-head of ISI's Afghanistan operations, Pakistan had a strict policy to prevent any American funding, arming, or training of mujahideen. However, bin Laden himself was trained by U.S. special forces commando Ali Mohamed. Additionally, bin Laden became acquainted with Hamid Gul, a Pakistani general and head of the ISI, Between 1986 and 1987, bin Laden set up a base in eastern Afghanistan for several dozen of his own soldiers. There, he commanded them to victory against the Soviets at the 1987 Battle of Jaji. Despite the battle's little significance to the mujahideen war effort, it was lionized in the Arab press. , used by al-Qaeda and many of its affiliates |270x270px|left Founding of al-Qaeda Bin Laden split from MaK by 1988. This was largely due to him wanting the Arab fighters in the Afghan mujahideen to form a military force independent from the rest of the mujahideen, whereas Azzam wanted to integrate the groups. and al-Qaeda formed sometime that year. It may have been founded at an 11 August meeting between bin Laden, Azzam, and leaders of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) terrorist group, where the parties are known to have agreed on combining bin Laden's money with the EIJ's experience to move the jihadist cause out of Afghanistan after the withdrawal finished. On 20 August, notes were taken on a meeting involving bin Laden that mention "an organized Islamic faction, [whose] goal is to lift the word of God, to make his religion victorious." To keep its existence a secret, al-Qaeda did not state its name in its early public announcements. Another topic which bin Laden and Azzam disagreed on was the use of MaK's military force following the withdrawal. They both wanted to use the force MaK had built to defend any oppressed Muslims around the world. Bin Laden then publicly urged the soldiers to wage jihad through terrorism; Azzam issued a fatwa condemning this approach, saying Islamic law condemns the killing of women and children. The Soviets finished withdrawing in February 1989. The Democratic Republic government, now lacking physical Soviet protection, fought a war from 1988 to 1992 against continuing mujahideen resistance. Concurrently, various anti-Republic mujahideen groups waged internecine combat against each other, which angered bin Laden; In March 1989, bin Laden commanded 800 Arab foreign fighters against the Republic during the Battle of Jalalabad. He moved his men to immobilize the Republic's 7th Sarandoy Regiment, but this caused massive casualties on his side, who lost the battle. This came after a local dispute between Sunni and Shia civilians over the latter's celebrations of the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The militants, who were still fasting for Ramadan, had attacked the Shias, already celebrating; the Shias claimed to have made their first sighting of the crescent moon, which commences Eid al-Fitr, and the Sunnis did not believe them. A contingent of Sunni militants and armed tribesmen from various other places in Pakistan then came to Gilgit, reportedly sent by the Pakistani government to "teach [the Shias] a lesson". Indian intelligence official B. Raman alleged in 2003 that bin Laden had led one of the tribes during the march. Return to Saudi Arabia Upon bin Laden's return to Saudi Arabia after the Soviet withdrawal, he was widely praised by Saudis as a hero of jihad, as many viewed his mujahideen force as responsible for defeating the Soviet superpower. He then worked for the Saudi Binladin Group, even after he began engaging in Saudi opposition movements against the House of Saud. From then on, he was radicalized further by EIJ leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. In 1990, bin Laden funded a coup attempt led by extremist communist general Shahnawaz Tanai to overthrow the Republic, which failed. In 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed, it ended its remaining support to the Republic. He also offered the House of Saud to send al-Qaeda to overthrow the Soviet-aligned Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) government in the country of South Yemen, but this was rejected by Prince Turki Al-Faisal. Bin Laden then organized the assassinations of YSP leaders in an attempt to disrupt North and South Yemen's process of unifying into one country; he was forced to stop by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, after North Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a leader in the unification process, complained to the Saudi King Fahd. The unification occurred in 1990, forming the modern Republic of Yemen, first led by Saleh. Gulf War The 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait under Iraqi president Saddam Hussein started the Gulf War (1990–1991). Soon, Iraqi forces deployed to the Saudi–Iraqi border. The House of Saud became worried that their control over Saudi Arabia was unstable, as Saddam publicly supported pan-Arabism—the royals were worried he aimed to incite internal dissent against them. Fahd agreed to the U.S. government's offer of military assistance; a week later, bin Laden met with Fahd and Saudi Defense Minister Sultan bin Abdulaziz, telling them not to depend on non-Muslim assistance. Bin Laden offered to help defend Saudi Arabia with a mujahideen force of his. The offer was denied, and the Saudis ultimately accepted 500,000 U.S troops into their territory. and tried to convince the Saudi ulama to issue a fatwa condemning it, but senior clerics refused out of fear of government repression. His continued criticism of the royals led them to put him under house arrest, which he remained under until he was exiled from the country in 1991. After the war, the royals allowed U.S. troops to have a continuous presence there, in Operation Southern Watch, for the purpose of controlling air space in Iraq. Move to Sudan After his expulsion, bin Laden and his followers moved first to Afghanistan, then relocated to Sudan in a deal brokered by Ali Mohamed. Bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum. He bought a house on Al-Mashtal Street in the affluent Al-Riyadh neighborhood, and a retreat at Soba on the Blue Nile. He personally selected the bodyguards in his security detail, who carried Strela-2s, AK-47s, PK machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and Stinger missiles. He invested heavily in various businesses, notably in infrastructure and agriculture. Bin Laden was popular with the locals, who considered him generous to the poor. He built roads in the country with the work of former Afghan mujahideen members, who used the same bulldozers bin Laden had employed in Afghanistan to construct tracks in the mountains. He continued to criticize King Fahd, so in 1994, Fahd stripped him of his Saudi citizenship. Bin Laden's family disowned him, and Fahd persuaded them to cut off his yearly stipend of $7 million USD. in 1991, at the start of the Algerian Civil WarIn the 1990s, al-Qaeda assisted jihadists financially, and sometimes militarily, in Algeria, Egypt, and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993, bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 USD to Algeria to aid the local Islamists and urge them to go to war against the Algerian government, rather than negotiate with them. Their advice was heeded. The resulting Algerian Civil War (1992–2002) killed 44,000 to 200,000 people, and ended with the Islamists surrendering to the government. In early 1992, as the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was collapsing at the end of the 1989–1992 civil war, leaders of mujahideen groups around the country planned negotiations to create a new government that shared power between the groups. In March or April, bin Laden tried to encourage Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the group Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin, to join the negotiations, rather than trying to conquer Kabul with his own group so it could establish its own government. Hekmatyar unsuccessfully tried the latter, while a new coalition government, the Islamic State of Afghanistan, was founded. This led to another Afghan civil war (1992–1996), this time between Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin, the coalition, al-Qaeda, and other groups. Their first successful terrorist bombings were on 29 December 1992. Bombs were detonated at the Mövenpick Hotel and Gold Mohur Hotel in Aden, Yemen, killing two civilians at the Gold Mohur. U.S. troops had been staying at the hotels while en route to Somalia to participate in Operation Restore Hope. In the early 1990s, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed became a top lieutenant of bin Laden, and devised a plan, codenamed "Bojinka", for a series of terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda targeting airliners. In the Bojinka plot, al-Qaeda and another group, Jemaah Islamiyah, planned for eleven planes departing Southeast Asia en route to the U.S. to simultaneously be destroyed by bombs over the Pacific Ocean. Pope John Paul II would also be assassinated. In 1993, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew, Ramzi Yousef, and a group of al-Qaeda members bombed the underground portion of the World Trade Center business complex in New York City, killing six people and injuring more than a thousand. In 1994, Yousef rehearsed the Bojinka bombings by setting one off at a theatre in Manila, and the other onboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, which killed a passenger. In 1995, weeks before the planned attack date, the plot was foiled when Yousef's Manila apartment burned down; investigating the fire, police found evidence incriminating him in the plot. In the U.S., he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Mohammed continued with his plan for hijacking airliners. Expulsion from Sudan and return to Afghanistan The U.S. State Department accused Sudan of being a sponsor of international terrorism, and bin Laden of operating terrorist training camps in Sudan. However, according to Sudanese officials, this stance became obsolete as Islamist political leader Hassan al-Turabi lost influence in their country. Sudan 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 the country. In late 1995, the U.S. learned that Sudan was discussing a possible expulsion of bin Laden. The U.S. Ambassador to Sudan, Timothy Carney, encouraged Sudan to go through with this, though Sudan had trouble deciding where bin Laden should be expelled to; the Saudis did not want him, and no country had an outstanding indictment against bin Laden. Saudi official Fatih Erwa later claimed Sudan offered to hand bin Laden over to the U.S.; the American government's 9/11 Commission Report (2004) found "no credible evidence" of this. 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. The station was headed by CTC veteran Michael Scheuer. 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. Sudan expelled bin Laden in 1996, allowing him to fly to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, aboard a chartered flight on 18 May. The expulsion from Sudan significantly weakened al-Qaeda, as bin Laden left millions of dollars USD in Sudan. Some African intelligence sources have argued that the expulsion left bin Laden without a way to gain political power other than by becoming a full-time radical, and that most of the three hundred Afghan Arabs who left with him subsequently became terrorists. Al-Qaeda was allowed to operate in Afghanistan by the Taliban, who won the 1992–96 war, and founded the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in late 1996. Until the Emirate's dissolution in 2001, bin Laden worked closely with the Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Mullah Omar. came to train at al-Qaeda's Afghan jihadist camps In Afghanistan, al-Qaeda raised money from donors bin Laden had associated with during the Soviet–Afghan War—and from the ISI—to establish more training camps for mujahideen fighters. Meanwhile, he effectively took over Ariana Afghan Airlines, which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash, and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and provided false identifications to al-Qaeda members. Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout helped run the airline, maintain planes, and load cargo. Michael Scheuer concluded that Ariana was being used as a terrorist taxi service. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing bin Laden to abandon his Najim Jihad compound, and move his operations south to Tarnak Farms. Late 1990s attacks and criminal charges In August 1996, bin Laden issued a fatwa, declaring war on the U.S. in response to their troop presence in Saudi Arabia, which he alleged "had been turned into an American colony" during "America's attempt to take over the region". In February 1998, he issued another fatwa, calling upon Muslims to attack the U.S. and its allies. interviewing bin Laden, |280x280px|leftIn November 1996, U.S. president Bill Clinton traveled to the Philippines for the annual APEC meetings. Bin Laden organized a plot to assassinate Clinton by bombing the presidential motorcade as it traveled through Manila. Before the motorcade left, however, U.S. intelligence agents intercepted a message between al-Qaeda agents about the plan, and alerted the U.S. Secret Service. Clinton was unharmed, and the bomb was found planted under a bridge. Some researchers allege that bin Laden funded the Luxor massacre, the killing of 62 civilians at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt in November 1997. The Swiss Federal Police later determined that bin Laden had financed the operation. In March 1998, Libya issued the first official Interpol arrest warrant against bin Laden. He and three others were charged with killing Silvan Becker, a counterterrorism expert with the BfV, and his wife Vera in Libya in 1994. Bin Laden was still wanted by Libya at the time of his death. He was also indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. in 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 al-Qaeda, and a major financier of Islamic fighters worldwide. Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri organized an al-Qaeda congress on 24 June. of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya On 7 August 1998, hundreds of people were killed in simultaneous truck bomb explosions at the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Nairobi, Kenya. The attacks brought bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to the attention of the U.S. public for the first time. Al-Qaeda later claimed responsibility for them. Reception to this initiative among U.S. and U.K. intelligence officials was mixed before 9/11. After 9/11, it was revealed that Clinton had authorized the CIA's Special Activities Division to apprehend bin Laden and bring him to the U.S. to stand trial for the bombings; if taking him alive was deemed impossible, then deadly force could be used. Clinton ordered a series of cruise missile strikes on 20 August 1998 against bin Laden's al-Qaeda training camps in Khost, Afghanistan, and Khartoum. In November, bin Laden was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in the Southern District Court of New York on charges relating to the embassy attacks. The evidence against him included courtroom testimony by former al-Qaeda members, and records from a satellite phone purchased for bin Laden by al-Qaeda agent Ziyad Khaleel in the U.S. The Taliban responded to the indictments by saying they would not extradite bin Laden to the U.S., saying there was insufficient evidence presented by the court, and that non-Muslim courts lacked standing to try Muslims. In December 1998, the CIA reported to Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing attacks in the U.S., including the training of personnel to hijack aircraft. In June 1999, the FBI placed bin Laden on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. In an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite bin Laden, Clinton tried to convince the United Nations (UN) to impose sanctions against Afghanistan. He was partially successful, as in October 1999, the UN designated al-Qaeda as a terrorist organization, officially obligating countries to freeze the assets of, and impose travel bans on, al-Qaeda members and their associates. Afterwards, the Taliban still did not extradite him. In late 1999, the CIA and Pakistani military intelligence prepared a team of approximately sixty Pakistani commandos to infiltrate Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden, but the plan was aborted upon the Pakistani coup d'état in October. The mujahideen allegedly participated in war crimes, including killing and torturing Serbian and Croat civilians, and using them as human shields. In 1995, the Bosnian War ended with the Republic's dissolution, and the formation of the country simply named Bosnia and Herzegovina. Evidence shows that bin Laden aided the Bosnian mujahideen. In 2002, authorities in Sarajevo, Bosnia, raided the offices of a Saudi aid agency that assisted Bosnian Muslims in the war, the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They found materials with information on multiple Saudi Wahhabi financiers of the mujahideen, including bin Laden. Another item found was the "Golden Chain" document, which claims to be a list of bin Laden's own financiers. In 1998, the head of Albania's State Intelligence Service, Fatos Klosi, said that bin Laden had founded a terror network disguised as a humanitarian organization in Albania in 1994, and that the network were currently taking part in the Kosovo War. Claude Kader, who was a member, later testified to the network's existence while on trial. It was organized by some Islamic leaders in Western Europe allied to bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. By 1998, four members of EIJ were arrested in Albania and extradited to Egypt. in 1999, during the Kosovo War In 2002, then-former Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević claimed at his UN trial that he had received an FBI report claiming al-Qaeda had aided the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic-Albanian paramilitary that fought for Kosovar independence during the Kosovo War, while killing civilians. Milošević alleged that bin Laden had used Albania as a launchpad for violence in the Balkans, and that while Milošević led Yugoslavia (1997 to 2000), his government informed U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke that the KLA was being aided by al-Qaeda, yet the U.S. continued to work with the KLA afterwards. Thus, the U.S. may have been knowingly working with bin Laden, despite targeting him after the embassy bombings—and helping create the humanitarian crisis that the U.S. said necessitated the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Yemen insurgency After Yemen's 1990 unification, Ali Abdullah Saleh remained its president until 2012. While developing the new country in the 1990s, he found opposition in Sunnis and others, who felt that he was changing Yemeni society too much in the pursuit of North–South cultural unity. He stayed in power for decades by forcefully suppressing his opposition. In 1998, a branch of al-Qaeda named al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQY) began an insurgency against the Yemeni government in an attempt to control the region. The insurgency continues to this day, The only successful attack was the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814, departing Kathmandu for Delhi on 24 December 1999. The hijackers, of the al-Qaeda-linked group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, first stopped in India, Pakistan, and the UAE, then stayed inside the plane on the ground in Kathmandu. They created a hostage crisis as they kept passengers on board, killing one, while demanding that India release three Muslim militants from prison. On the 31st, India brought both the hijackers and prisoners to the Taliban at the India–Pakistan border. Three of the Jordanian targets were symbolic of non-Islamic religions, and were expecting American tourists on New Year's: the Roman Temple of Hercules at the Amman Citadel in Amman; a hill near the Dead Sea where Jesus was baptized; and Mount Nebo, where Moses saw the Promised Land. Another target was the Radisson hotel in Amman, where many American and Israeli tourists would be. All four attacks were foiled when Jordanian intelligence intercepted a phone call on 30 November from a lieutenant of bin Laden in Pakistan to a member of the terrorist cell in Amman. Al-Qaeda also failed in an attempt to bomb USS The Sullivans, a U.S. Navy ship, on 3 January 2000 in Aden, Yemen. The perpetrators had planned to move a boat filled with explosives towards The Sullivans and then detonate them, but they added too many explosives, and the boat sunk before it could reach her. The terrorists then salvaged the boat and the explosives for use in a similar attempt at a later time. They were used in Aden in October, killing 17 Navy sailors aboard USS Cole (DDG-67). == 11 September 2001 attacks ==

On 11 September 2001, 19 al-Qaeda members hijacked four airliners departing the U.S. East Coast in an attempt to crash them into various national landmarks. Two planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City, 1 and 2 World Trade Center (WTC), respectively. American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia. United Airlines Flight 93 did not reach its intended destination of Washington, D.C., as the plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the other passengers tried to take back the cockpit from the hijackers. The Twin Towers eventually collapsed, destroying the World Trade Center. All of the hijackers and at least 2,977 victims died directly from the four hijackings. Aftermath The destroyed site of the World Trade Center was nicknamed "Ground Zero". Numerous people who were at the site during or after the attacks later received health issues resulting from inhalation exposure, caused by breathing dust from the collapse. More than 6,000 people have died from 9/11-related diseases as of 2026. The New York City government initially told rescue workers at Ground Zero that the air was safe to breathe. Other U.S. federal investigations included the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities, and the 9/11 Commission. After the attacks, numerous countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation. Three U.S. federal agencies were founded to deter attacks like 9/11: the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Airport security was put under the TSA's operation, replacing the private security companies which were contracted by airlines. Extra security measures became mandated at airport security checkpoints. The U.S. also increased its collaboration with other countries on counter-terrorism, causing a decrease in Islamic terrorist cells in the country. Planning In 1996, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed presented bin Laden a modified version of the Bojinka plot idea; in the U.S., al-Qaeda would hijack ten airliners, crashing nine into landmarks. Onboard the tenth, Mohammed and other hijackers would kill every adult male passenger, then land the plane at a U.S. airport. There, Mohammed would give a speech about U.S. foreign policy, and the women and children would be released unharmed. Bin Laden rejected the plan for its complexity, but years later, approved him to work on a scaled back version. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had become bin Laden's deputy in 1998, convinced bin Laden to go through with the attacks, and built the "systematic organisation" that allowed al-Qaeda to enact them. In 1999, bin Laden, Mohamed, and Mohammed Atef designed the general plan for 9/11. They listed potential targets, including the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, and the White House. They decided that if any of the hijackers could not reach their targets, they were to crash the plane. Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders chose the hijackers in 2000. Around 21 men, including Mohamed Atta, were selected; one, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was soon denied a U.S. visa, and a likely selection, Zacarias Moussaoui, was arrested in August 2001, so there were ultimately 19. Bin al-Shibh instead acted as a liaison between the hijackers and al-Qaeda's leadership during the preparations. In July 2001, bin al-Shibh met Atta in Spain, and they made the final confirmation of the hijackers' targets. He told Atta that bin Laden wanted the attacks to happen as soon as possible. In the months before 9/11, U.S. intelligence agencies received numerous warnings about an incoming attack on the country by al-Qaeda. At the time, many of the agencies did not significantly cooperate with each other on investigations, so the government did not piece these warnings together to make a cohesive picture of the upcoming attack. In July 2001, FBI agent Kenneth Williams wrote the "Phoenix Memo", a warning circulated within the FBI that bin Laden was sending his followers to Arizona for flight training. It was not seen by the agency's leadership until after the attacks. On 6 August, Bush received an intelligence report titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S." Responsibility On the day of the attacks, U.S. and German intelligence intercepted communications that pointed to bin Laden's responsibility for them. That night, U.S. president George W. Bush wrote in his diary that "we think it's Osama bin Laden." U.S. and U.K. intelligence later stated that evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to 9/11 is clear and irrefutable. In November 2001, U.S. troops in Afghanistan found a videotape in which bin Laden discusses with Khaled bin Ouda bin Mohammed al-Harbi what is likely 9/11. It was released by the U.S. on 13 December. In a 2004 video, bin Laden unambiguously confirmed that he had organized 9/11. He also threatened new attacks against the U.S., and accused George W. Bush of negligence in not preventing the hijackings. One released in 2006 shows bin Laden with bin al-Shibh and two 9/11 hijackers, Hamza al-Ghamdi and Wail al-Shehri, as they make preparations for the attacks. In a 2007 video, bin Laden denied that the Taliban had any foreknowledge of 9/11. Alleged Saudi role The 9/11 Commission Report stated that the "origin of [al-Qaeda's] funds remains unknown", and that they "have seen no evidence that any foreign government or foreign government official supplied any funding" for 9/11. Despite this conclusion—and bin Laden having been exiled by the House of Saud in 1991—some U.S. investigators allege that Saudi Arabia had funded it. Saudi Arabia has denied this. Multiple U.S. federal agencies investigated possible financial ties between Saudi Arabia and bin Laden prior to 9/11. After 9/11, BBC News quoted a source within U.S. intelligence who claimed that after Bush was inaugurated as president that January, his administration forced the agencies to stop looking into any connections. In 2002, the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities released its final report on 9/11 to the public. 28 pages of it were classified at the request of the Bush administration. They were declassified in 2016, and include details of alleged Saudi involvement in the attacks; they mention that, "while in the United States, some of [the] hijackers were in contact with, and received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi government". == Militant and political career, 2001–2011 ==

U.S. actions against al-Qaeda after 9/11 The U.S. launched a global "war on terror" in response to 9/11, which included a manhunt for bin Laden. Shortly after the attacks, the Taliban refused to extradite him to the U.S.; they offered to try him before an Islamic court, which the U.S. rejected. The CIA's Special Activities Division was given the lead in tracking down, and then killing or capturing him. The FBI introduced a list of its Most Wanted Terrorists, 22 in total, with bin Laden placed atop as the most crucial one to find. The FBI offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the capture of each person, except bin Laden, who was listed at $25 million. The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward. Starting on 7 October 2001, a U.S.-led international coalition invaded Afghanistan, to depose the Taliban and capture al-Qaeda members, especially bin Laden. On 14 October, the Taliban offered to turn bin Laden over to a third-party country for trial, in return for the U.S. ending the invasion. This was rejected by Bush, who said that the U.S.' position was non-negotiable: "there's no need to discuss innocence or guilt. We know he's guilty." The CIA, meanwhile, was closely tracking bin Laden's movements in hopes to catch him. On 10 November, they spotted him near Jalalabad traveling in a convoy of two hundred pickup trucks. They then headed towards al-Qaeda's training camp within their defensive complex at Tora Bora, in the Safed Koh mountain range. It was twenty miles from Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. The U.S. attacked the complex during the Battle of Tora Bora from November to December. Early in the battle, CIA intelligence had indicated that bin Laden and the al-Qaeda leadership were trapped in the caves of the complex, and on 1 December, CIA officer Gary Berntsen requested General Tommy Franks to send U.S. Army Rangers to block off the mountain passes into Pakistan and cut off bin Laden's escape. Franks denied the request, as he agreed with the Bush administration that Pakistan would capture bin Laden if he tried to cross the border. Bin Laden is conventionally believed to have escaped on 15 December. With the battle's end, the Taliban had been deposed. Afterwards, its members reformed into the Taliban insurgency, which fought the U.S., its allies, and the new Afghan government until the Taliban retook the country in 2021. At these locations, the U.S. deployed torture methods, officially named "enhanced interrogation techniques", against prisoners, sometimes in an attempt to get info about al-Qaeda. Research has found that torture does not work as an interrogation technique, and often leads to the victims giving false info. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh hid in Pakistan after 9/11. Bin al-Shibh was captured in 2002, and Mohammed in 2003. Both were tortured at CIA black sites. Al-Qaeda operations after 9/11 After 9/11, Interpol issued a warrant for Ayman al-Zawahiri's arrest, over his involvement in the attacks. While in hiding, he became the spokesperson for al-Qaeda, issuing its fatwas and appearing in its video statements to the public. Throughout the 2000s, he formed al-Qaeda franchises in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Uzbekistan. The Guardian writes that by 2009, U.S. intelligence thought of al-Zawahiri as "al-Qaeda’s strategic commander, relegating bin Laden to ideological figurehead." , present at one of the locations In October 2002, on the Indonesian island of Bali, a now-defunct al-Qaeda-linked group named Jemaah Islamiyah detonated three bombs, two on Kuta Beach at locations historically popular with Australian tourists, and one at an Australian consulate. The attacks killed 202 people, 88 of them Australian. Hundreds of others were wounded. Led by the U.S., an international coalition invaded Iraq in 2003 to topple Saddam Hussein's government, starting the Iraq War (2003–2011). In the lead-up to the invasion, the Bush administration tied Saddam to al-Qaeda and 9/11, despite having no evidence internally that Iraq was involved in the attacks. In April 2003, Saddam's government was toppled. Opponents of the invasion then formed the Iraqi insurgency, which fought the coalition and the coalition-installed replacement government. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the Sunni Iraqi insurgent group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (JTJ), declared the group's allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004, in exchange for bin Laden publicly recognizing him as the head of a new version of JTJ, al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). |leftAl-Zarqawi intended to use the destabilization caused by the insurgency's war against the coalition to further the sectarian violence between Iraqi Sunnis and Shias, by attacking Shias and their holy sites. He strived for a sectarian civil war that would reestablish the national Sunni dominance over Shias that had been dissolved upon Hussein's ousting. In 2006, AQI claimed responsibility for the 22 February bombing of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq—one of the holiest Shia sites—which destroyed its upper exterior. The sectarian violence increased as al-Zarqawi intended. In London on 7 July 2005, a London Bus and three trains in the London Underground were hit by terrorist bombings, which killed 52 people and injured over 700. On 21 July, four more bombs were detonated in the city, but caused no deaths or injuries. The terrorist cells behind both attacks were linked to al-Qaeda. The vacancy in AQI's leadership after al-Zarqawi's death led the organization to become the Islamic State of Iraq; its allegiance to al-Qaeda continued. The Islamic State of Iraq decided to capture large swaths of territory in Iraq while fighting the coalition, diminishing support for al-Qaeda among Sunnis who opposed the coalition—even extremist militants. The violence between Sunnis and Shias only decreased after 2007, as the Islamic State of Iraq was weakened by greater retaliation from Muslims, and as the U.S. dramatically increased their troop numbers in Iraq in an attempt to stabilize the country. IS continued its predecessor's terrorist attacks and conquests. In 2009, al-Zawahiri merged al-Qaeda in Yemen and al-Qaeda of Saudi Arabia into "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula" (AQAP). The Guardian writes that AQAP "proved to be the most loyal and effective of [the al-Qaeda] franchises" that al-Zawahiri established in the 2000s. In July 2010, Ahmad Sidiqi, a frequent visitor to a German mosque that had ties to al-Qaeda's German terrorist cell in the 1990s, was captured in Afghanistan. He was then interrogated by the U.S. at Bagram prison. Notably, American officials tortured Bagram's prisoners during interrogations in the 2000s, and might have still done so by 2012. According to the U.S., Sidiqi told them that bin Laden had recently ordered al-Qaeda to conduct terrorist attacks across Europe. Bin Laden's plot was ultimately foiled by European authorities. Continued manhunt U.S. government activities, 2006–2009 In July 2006, The New York Times revealed, based on anonymous CIA sources, that the Bin Laden Issue Station had been shut down in late 2005. In September 2006, the U.S. military revealed that al-Qaeda member Atiyah Abd al-Rahman had sent a letter to al-Zarqawi in December 2005—which was found in one of al-Zarqawi's Iraqi safe houses after his death—that indicated bin Laden and the rest of al-Qaeda's leadership were concurrently in the Waziristan region of Pakistan; al-Rahman instructed al-Zarqawi to send messengers to Waziristan so that they could meet with the other leaders. The letter indicated that the al-Qaeda organization had been weakened after experiencing various problems. U.S. and Afghan forces again raided the Tora Bora caves in August 2007, after receiving intelligence of a planned meeting between al-Qaeda members for before Ramadan. After killing dozens of al-Qaeda and Taliban members, they did not find either bin Laden or al-Zawahiri. During Barack Obama's campaign for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, he pledged: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority." As president, Obama rejected the Bush administration's strategy to focus on bin Laden's relation to other militant groups like Hamas or Hezbollah as part of the manhunt. Obama instead narrowed the U.S.' focus onto al-Qaeda and its direct affiliates. of bin Laden published by the FBI during the manhunt ABC News later wrote that "by the summer of 2009, the trail for bin Laden had gone cold. The CIA simply had no tangible evidence of any place he'd been since [the Battle of Tora Bora]." In December, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the U.S. had had no reliable information on the whereabouts of bin Laden in years. Days later, U.S. General Stanley McChrystal indicated that U.S. intelligence believed bin Laden was still alive. He also claimed that Obama's recent deployment of 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan meant finding bin Laden was possible—and that, while killing or capturing bin Laden would not dissolve al-Qaeda, they definitely could not be dissolved while he was at large, as his survival had emboldened its members across the world. In December, Pakistani prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani rejected claims that bin Laden was in the country. Pakistan said that its intelligence resources were limited, and were thus focused on their war against the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents, rather than finding bin Laden. In February 2010, Afghan president Hamid Karzai arrived in Saudi Arabia for diplomatic talks regarding the Taliban. During the visit, an anonymous official of the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry declared that the House of Saud had no intention of getting involved in peacemaking efforts in Afghanistan unless the Taliban severed ties with extremists and expelled bin Laden, allegedly under their protection. In June, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah reported that bin Laden was hiding in the town of Sabzevar, Iran. U.S. discovery of bin Laden's compound In August 2010, as U.S. intelligence was surveilling a man they knew to be a courier of bin Laden, Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he entered a compound in the city of Abbottabad. He continued to frequently the visit the compound, and the U.S. determined that bin Laden was living inside it. U.S. intelligence later determined that the compound was probably built for bin Laden, and may have been his home for at least five years. Satellite imagery of the area in 2004 shows no building on the plot. The compound was located less than from the Pakistan Military Academy, and less than from Islamabad. In 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, claiming they were made up to put pressure on Pakistan ahead of talks aimed at strengthening ties between them and the U.S. In July 2011, it was publicized that after the U.S. discovered the compound, to confirm bin Laden's occupancy, the CIA organized a campaign of free, secretly fake hepatitis B vaccinations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They hoped one of bin Laden's relatives living with him would receive one, so that the CIA could then extract their DNA from their blood in the needle, and compare it to bin Laden's sister's DNA, which U.S. officials had obtained after she died in Boston in 2010. The operation ultimately failed, and its disclosure helped influence vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan, causing a rise in polio cases there. == Death ==

, according to U.S. officials; their statements that he was buried in the Arabian Sea have been disputedOn 2 May 2011, bin Laden was shot and killed at his compound in Abbottabad, shortly after 1:00 a.m. PKT, in a raid by a U.S. military special operations unit. The raid, Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by Obama that April, and carried out in a CIA operation by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs from SEAL Team Six, part of the Joint Special Operations Command. They were supported by CIA operatives on the ground. The raid was launched from Afghanistan. It was widely reported by the press that bin Laden was fatally wounded by SEAL Robert J. O'Neill; however, this 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 nicknamed "Red". SEAL Matt Bissonnette claims that bin Laden died after Bissonnette and another SEAL shot him in the chest multiple times. Aftermath The SEALs took bin Laden's body with them out of Abbottabad. When detailing the raid to reporters, U.S. officials said that afterwards, his body was flown to Afghanistan for identification, then to the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea, from which it was buried at sea in accordance with Islamic customs. Subsequent reporting has called this account into question. Upon the news of bin Laden's death, there were large celebrations outside the White House, and in New York City. The Washington Post described the Arab world's reaction as "muted". In Latin America, political leaders' views on his killing varied. Its supporters included Peru's then-leftist president Alan García, who labeled it "the first miracle performed by [the late Pope John Paul II|Pope] John Paul II" after being beatified the week prior; others denounced the U.S. for violating Pakistani sovereignty to perform the raid. In India, the revelation of possible ties between bin Laden and Pakistan's government caused "jubilation", as many residents felt it demonstrated a moral superiority of India over Pakistan, its historical adversary. The U.S. claimed on 18 May that they would not pay anyone bin Laden's bounty reward of $25 million USD. Ayman al-Zawahiri succeeded bin Laden as emir of al-Qaeda, and al-Qaeda's affiliates through Asia and Africa swore allegiance to him. He served until he was killed in 2022. In 2016, released documents revealed that bin Laden had once asked family members to use for "jihad" the $29 million USD they would inherit from him upon his death. He said the money was in Sudan, but not if it was in cash or assets. It is not known if any family members ultimately received the money. Additionally, it was revealed that bin Laden had planned terrorist attacks in the U.S. for 11 September 2011. Controversy over alleged Pakistani support , Pakistan's prime minister from 2008 to 2012|leftAfter bin Laden's death, Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., promised a "full inquiry" into how the ISI could have failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound so close to Islamabad: "Obviously bin Laden did have a support system. [Was] that support system within the government [of] Pakistan, or within the society of Pakistan?" For years, the U.S. and Pakistan dually maintained that no Pakistani officials knew of bin Laden's whereabouts prior to, or had prior knowledge of, the raid. Journalist Steve Coll noted in 2018 that documents taken from the compound generally show that bin Laden was wary of contacting Pakistani intelligence and police about various concerns, especially in light of Pakistan's arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Journalist Carlotta Gall reported in 2014 that Ahmad Shuja Pasha, while serving as head of the ISI from 2008 to 2012, knew of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad. Citing U.S. sources, journalist Seymour M. Hersh asserted in 2015 that: bin Laden had been a prisoner of the ISI at the compound since 2006; Pasha knew of Operation Neptune Spear in advance, and authorized the U.S.' helicopters to enter Pakistani airspace; and that the CIA learned of bin Laden's whereabouts from a former agent of Pasha, who was secretly paid much of the $25 million bounty reward. == Personal life ==

Adult bin Laden was described as thin, tall, and weighing about . He usually walked with a cane, and may have had some type of kidney disease. Al-Bahri said that bin Laden once played association football and volleyball, and that when the two knew each other, bin Laden was obsessed with black horses, and the English football club Arsenal. They had eleven children, and separated days before 9/11. In 1983, he married Khadijah Sharif, and divorced in 1993. They had three children. Osama married Siham Sabir in 1987, and they had four children. Osama's fifth marriage was to an unnamed woman in 1996; it was annulled within days of the ceremony. He married Amal al-Sadah in 2000, and they had five children. == Legacy ==

In the West, bin Laden is overwhelmingly regarded as a terrorist and mass murderer. His New York Times obituary wrote that Americans generally viewed him as the main symbol of global terrorism, and equivalent to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. Upon bin Laden's death, the Pew Research Center found that he had become "discredited" to his Arab supporters over the preceding years, according to polling. In 2020, Imran Khan denounced bin Laden's killing, labeling it "an embarrassing moment" in Pakistan's history. He praised bin Laden as a "martyr". == See also ==