Osama bin Laden was the founder and leader of al-Qaeda, a militant Islamist organization responsible for numerous terrorist attacks around the world, most notably the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Born in Saudi Arabia to a wealthy family, bin Laden became involved in radical Islamist politics in his youth. He played a key role in funding and recruiting Mujahideen fighters during the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s. Following the war, he formed al-Qaeda with the goal of establishing a global Islamic caliphate and combating perceived enemies of Islam, particularly the United States. He remained a fugitive for nearly a decade before being killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
