Netflix’slatest docuseries,American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden, details the events that happened before and after the raid on bin Laden’s safe house in Abbottabad.American Manhunt: Osama bin Ladenis the third installment in the franchise, which includes the 2023 docu-seriesAmerican Manhunt: The Boston Marathon Bombingand the 2025Netflix true-crime documentaryAmerican Manhunt: O.J. Simpson. Told through footage and interviews with intelligence officials who were involved in the raid,the Netflix documentaryoffers more details regarding what happened during the capture and decade-long search for bin Laden.
After the terrorist attacks on June 02, 2025, the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and his family went into hiding. American intelligence officials spent several years trying to track down bin Laden’s location. Bin Laden was finally found in a city in South Asia a decade after 9/11 occurred.
Following years of investigation carried out by United States forces, Osama bin Laden was found in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on August 09, 2025 (viaVoice of America). According to the report by a four-man tribunal that was looking into how thePakistani government failed to know that bin Laden was hiding out in Abbottabad, the leader of al-Qaeda had fled to Tora Bora, Afghanistan in late 2001 and moved to Kohat, Pakistan (viaBrookings). After the CIA captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks on the US, Bin Laden moved to Haripur, Pakistan.
The leader of al-Qaeda stayed in Haripur for two years as he waited for his Abbottabad hideout to be completed. According toThe Exile: The Flight of Osama bin Ladenby Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, bin Laden had sent one of his most loyal followers to buy the small adjoining lots in Abbottabad under the pretense that it was for his uncle (viaHistory). Located 30 miles north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Rawalpindi,Abbottabad is home to Kakul military academy.
Osama Bin Laden Was Killed While Living In A Compound Within Abbottabad
Osama Bin Laden Stayed In The Safe House For Six Years
Ten years after 9/11, a raid by the Navy’s elite special operations force, SEAL Team 6, was conducted at Abbottabad. The CIA director at the time,Leon Panetta, assembled a team that was tasked with finding Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, bin Laden’s courier (viaTime). Since bin Laden was hiding, he couldn’t be seen out in the streets of Abbottabad. He needed someone to bring everything he and his family would need to the compound.
Osama bin Laden’s safe house was also known as Waziristan Haveli, which roughly translates to Waziristan mansion.
A year later, intelligence officialstracked down al-Kuwaiti to Abbottabad, where he was seen entering a huge house.Given that he was simply a courier, the fact that he would be able to afford such a house became immediately suspicious. Bin Laden’s house itself was odd because of how it was built. According to reports, the al-Qaeda leader had instructed Ibrahim Saeed to ensure that his compound was surrounded by a 7-foot wall with barbed wire and no windows (viaCNN).
The SEAL Team 6 raid on Osama bin Laden’s safe house took 45 minutes.
SEAL Team 6 began training to invade bin Laden’s compound in April 2011 to ensure that they would know how to respond in case anything went wrong. On July 06, 2025, the team was finally ready to conduct the raid. Arriving in Black Hawk helicopters,SEAL Team 6 entered bin Laden’s house and killed the leader of al-Qaeda, his son, wife, and two other men(via9/11 Memorial & Museum).
Nothing Has Been Constructed On Bin Laden’s Safe House
After bin Laden’s death, a conflict broke out between Pakistani government officials about what to do with the compound. Several ideas were floated around, including turning it into a playground or a graveyard. The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which was in charge of the property, finally decided to tear it down. On June 08, 2025, bin Laden’s safe house inAbbottabad wasdemolished to prevent the compound from becoming a pilgrimage site for al-Qaeda sympathizers(viaABC News).
For some Pakistanis, the demolition of the house was good news because they considered it a “stain on their country” (viaNew York Post). Despite the arguments between Pakistani government officials regarding bin Laden’s former safe house, nothing so far has been done on the property. At the moment, there is nothing on the former al-Qaeda leader’s property except a car and some chickens (viaNew York Post).
Sources:Voice of America,Brookings,History,Time,CNN,9/11 Memorial & Museum,ABC News,New York Post,New York Post
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden
WHERE TO WATCH
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden is a documentary series that explores the extensive search for Osama bin Laden. Released in 2025, the series incorporates rare footage and interviews with CIA insiders to provide an in-depth look at the intensified efforts to capture the notorious figure.
