9/11
Ten Years Later

TIMELINE: The hunt for bin Laden

  • 1993

  • This is an undated photo of Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan, wanted by the United States government on account of the 1998 bombing of two U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

  • FEB. 26, 1993:

    World Trade Center bombing.

  • 1995
  • JUNE 1995:

    President Clinton issues Presidential Decision Directive labeling terrorism "a national security issue."

  • 1996
  • EARLY 1996:

    The CIA's Counter Terrorism Center creates a special unit focusing specifically on Osama bin Laden.

  • AUGUST 1996:

    A secret grand jury investigation begins against bin Laden in New York.

  • 1997
  • EARLY 1997:

    U.S. Intelligence first identifies al-Qaida as a worldwide terrorist organization.

  • 1998

  • This image made from video released by Al-Jazeera television on Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 is said to show Osama bin Laden at an undisclosed location on Sept. 11, 2001. Al-Jazeera did not say whether the image was taken before or after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States or how it was obtained. At left is Bin Laden's top lieutenant, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri. Graphic at top right reads "Exclusive to Al-Jazeera." At bottom right is the station's logo which reads "Al-Jazeera." (AP Photo / Al-Jazeera via APTN)

  • MAY 1998:

    Clinton appoints "counter-terrorism czar" Richard Clarke.

  • JUNE 8 1998:

    Grand jury indicts bin Laden.

  • AUG. 12, 1998:

    Two simultaneous explosions at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

  • AUG. 20, 1998:

    Clinton orders missile attack in Sudan, narrowly misses bin Laden.

  • LATE 1998:

    CIA beings secret effort with Pakistani intelligence to capture or kill bin Laden in Afghanistan.

  • LATE 1998:

    Clinton authorizes covert action against bin Laden and al-Qaida.

  • 1999
  • OCT. 12, 1999:

    Joint effort with Pakistani government to capture bin Laden aborted with the overthrow of then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

  • 2000
  • OCT. 12, 2000:

    U.S.S. Cole bombed.

  • 2001

  • A youngster holds up a homemade anti-Osama Bin Laden poster outside New York's Yankee Stadium Sunday, Sept. 23, 2001, following a memorial service for friends and family of those killed in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. (AP Photo / Kathy Willens)

  • EARLY 2001:

    CIA and FBI certify that al-Qaida was responsible for Cole bombing.

  • MAY 29, 2001:

    Four bin Laden followers found guilty of murder in the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

  • SEPT. 11, 2001:

    Hijackers fly airliners into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York. A third passenger plane crashes into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. A fourth airliner crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pa.

  • SEPT. 13, 2001:

    Secretary of State Colin Powell identifies Osama bin Laden as prime suspect.

  • OCT. 7, 2001:

    U.S. and British forces begin airstrikes in Afghanistan after the Taliban refuse to hand over bin Laden.

  • DECEMBER 2001:

    Bin Laden escapes at Tora Bora.

  • 2003

  • Demonstrators holding a poster of Saudi Osama bin Laden chant anti-American slogans during a pro-Taliban demonstration in the Pakistani port town of Karachi Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001. Bin Laden is the prime suspect in last week's attacks on the U.S. In the background the flag of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, or Party of Islam. (AP Photo/Zia Mazhar)

  • FEB. 11 2003:

    Bin Laden audiotape calls upon Muslims to attack U.S. forces in Iraq.

  • 2006
  • SEPT. 10, 2006:

    CIA officials report bin Laden trail has gone "stone cold."

  • 2008
  • OCT. 7, 2008:

    Sen. Barack Obama says: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority."

  • 2010
  • AUG. 1, 2010:

    American intelligence locates unusual compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

  • SEPT. 1, 2010:

    President Obama starts to review assessments that bin Laden may be at compound.

  • 2011

  • In this frame grab image taken from AP Television, President Barack Obama addresses the nation Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Washington. Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, is dead, and the U.S. is in possession of his body, Obama announced.

  • MARCH 14-28, 2011:

    Obama hold series of National Security Council meetings to develop options for capturing or killing bin Laden.

  • APRIL 29 2011:

    Obama authorizes the operation against bin Laden.

  • MAY 1, 2011
    (1 a.m. Pakistan time):

    U.S. forces raid bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. Bin Laden is killed.

  • MAY 1, 2011
    (10:35 p.m. Central Daylight Time):

    Obama announces bin Laden's death.

SOURCES; Associated Press, New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, PBS