Editing Osama bin Laden (section)

=== 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=http://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 [[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>