Location of Osama Bin Laden - Rumors and Speculation of Bin Laden's Location From 2001 Until 2011

Rumors and Speculation of Bin Laden's Location From 2001 Until 2011

Bin Laden's location and state of health were a continuing topic of speculation since the his disappearance from Tora Bora. It has become clear that most of these rumors and speculation was based on fact. First, rumors surfaced that bin Laden was killed or fatally injured during U.S. bombardments, most notably near Tora Bora, or that he died of natural causes. According to Gary Berntsen, in his 2005 book, Jawbreaker, a number of al-Qaeda detainees later confirmed that bin Laden had escaped Tora Bora into Pakistan via an eastern route through snow covered mountains in the area of Parachinar, Pakistan. The media reported that bin Laden suffered from a kidney disorder requiring him to have access to advanced medical facilities, possibly kidney dialysis. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second-in-command and a close bin Laden associate, is a physician and may have provided medical care to bin Laden.

Between 2002 and 2011, the most common suggestion from U.S. national security officials and others was that "their best intelligence suggested that bin Laden was living along the mountainous, ungoverned border of Pakistan and Afghanistan," such as in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (an area that includes Waziristan) or volatile regions in North-West Frontier Province (now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), where an ongoing insurgency has taken place. Several experts and former officials expressed surprise when bin Laden was instead revealed to have been hiding in the urban city of Abbottabad. Less common suggestions were that bin Laden had died (either by illness or military attack), or that he was alive and living in countries other than Pakistan, such as Afghanistan or Iran.