Biography For Alkida And Sept 11

Osama (also "Usama") bin Laden was born in 1957 to a wealthy Yemeni family in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His father operated one of the major construction companies in the area and believed to have left over $300 million to his son after he died.When in 1979 the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, bin Laden is reported to have said that it was his duty as a Muslim to fight against the invasion. Using his family's fortune, bin Laden provided support and training for the fighters, forming Maktab al-Khidimat (MAK) group composed of Muslims from all over the world. For them, this was jihad, an Islamic crusade, to get rid of the evil Soviets. Ironically, a major part of the entire operation, including training was financed with American money. Even more ironic is the fact that bin Laden most likely received some training from the CIA during this time. (Who is Osama Bin Laden? - BBC) By 1989 the Soviets were pushed out of the Afghan territory and the Americans terminated their aid. Left alone with his growing Afghan resistance organization al Qaeda, bin Laden switched the focus of his organization from fighting Soviets to fighting all non-Muslims in the neighboring regions. Bin Laden's new enemies were now the American forces that were left behind in the Afghanistan as well as their Middle Eastern allies. Shortly after the end of war with the Soviets, bin Laden moved back to Saudi Arabia. In 1991 he was expelled from Saudi Arabia and moved to Sudan. In 1996, succumbing to pressure from the U.S. bin Laden was expelled again. He moved to Afghanistan and was welcomed by Taliban as their "guest".