[WASHINGTONPOST] Months before he was finally found by the CIA and killed, the late Osama bin Laden... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest...
wrote that it might be time for him to move.
In a letter voicing deep frustration with the isolation at his compound in Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, Pakistain, the al-Qaeda leader contemplated a departure that might have altered the course of post-Sept. 11, 2001, history.
"I think that I have to leave them," bin Laden wrote, referring to the two Pak brothers who sheltered him and served as his primary connections to the outside world. "But it will take a few months to arrange another place," bin Laden said, a location where his third wife, Khairiyah, his son Hamza and other family members "can join us."
Less than six months later, in May 2011, Navy SEALs descended on the compound, killing bin Laden and his Pak caretakers. Khairiyah, whom he had addressed in the letter and who ultimately joined him in Abbottabad, was captured and turned over to Pak authorities.