Abu Ahmed
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Arshad Khan (19782 May 2011), commonly known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti (or Ibrahim Ahmad) was a Kuwaiti-born Pakistani courier for
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
. He was an ethnic
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
and a Pakistani citizen who adopted the last name ''al-Kuwaiti'' because his Pakistani parents lived in
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
. According to secret documents, he was one of the few men bin Laden completely trusted and was said to be his "favourite courier and right-hand man". He sheltered and lived with bin Laden for years and was killed along with him by the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group on 2 May 2011.


2000s

Arshad Khan was born in in
Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
. His father's name is reported to be Naqab Khan. Al-Kuwaiti was a
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
who was born and grew up in Kuwait and spoke
Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
(in a cultivated, urbane accent) and
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. He was a ''protégé'' of
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaykh; also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; born 14 April 1965), often known by his initials KSM, is a terrorist, and the former head of propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He ...
and had reportedly given computer training in
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
to the perpetrators of the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
on the United States. He was implicated in the attacks and was contacted in the aftermath by Indonesian militant
Riduan Isamuddin Riduan Isamuddin, also known by the ''nom de guerre'' Hambali (born April 4, 1964), is the former military leader of the Indonesian terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He is currently in American custody at Guantanamo Bay detainment ...
. Al-Kuwaiti provided a safe haven to Isamuddin and several of his close associates in his home in a quiet residential neighborhood of
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
. Guantanamo Bay documents dated 16 January 2008 revealed that
Mohamedou Ould Salahi Mohamedou Ould Slahi (; born December 21, 1970) is a Mauritanian engineer who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016. Slahi traveled to Afghanistan in December 1990 "to supp ...
had claimed that Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti was wounded while fleeing
Tora Bora Tora Bora (, "Black Cave") is a cave complex, part of the Spin Ghar (White Mountains) mountain range of eastern Afghanistan. It is situated in the Pachir Aw Agam District of Nangarhar, approximately west of the Khyber Pass and north of the ...
after the
Battle of Tora Bora The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Islamic State of Afghanistan, Afghanistan, from November 30December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of A ...
in December 2001 and had later died from his arm injuries. The document claimed he was a mid-level al-Qaeda operative who facilitated the movement and safe haven of senior al-Qaeda members and families. As a speaker of Arabic and Pashto he could communicate and move easily among both the Arab members of al-Qaeda and the Pashtun tribesmen of Pakistan. Contradicting the claims by Salahi that al-Kuwaiti had died in December 2001, in 2007 U.S. officials discovered the courier's real name and, in 2009, that he lived in
Abbottabad Abbottabad is a city in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in the country and 6th largest in the province by population, and serves as the headquarter of its namesake tehsil and district ...
, Pakistan. These findings were based on information collected from
Guantánamo Bay Guantánamo Bay (, ) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off from its immediate hint ...
detainees, notably
Hassan Ghul Hassan Ghul (), born Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan (1976/1977 – 1 October 2012), was a Pakistani member of al-Qaeda who revealed the '' kunya'' of Osama bin Laden's messenger, which eventually led to Operation Neptune Spear and the death of Osa ...
in 2004. From Ghul, the United States intelligence learned that al-Kuwaiti was also close to Mohammed's successor
Abu Faraj al-Libi Abu Faraj al-Libi ( ; أبو الفرج الليبي) (also transliterated al-Libbi) is an assumed name or nom de guerre of a Libyan alleged to be a senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. His real name is Mustafa Faraj Muhammad Muh ...
. Ghul further revealed that al-Kuwaiti had not been seen in some time, a fact which led U.S. officials to suspect he was traveling with Bin Laden. He was reportedly tracked from
Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...
by Pakistanis working for the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
. "The
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...
reportedly tracked phone calls between the courier Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti's relatives in the Persian Gulf to all numbers in Pakistan, and NSA surveillance eventually tracked Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti's location in Pakistan via one such phone call", the AP writes. In August 2010 they tracked al-Kuwaiti as he drove from Peshawar to a residence in Abbottabad – and as analysts inventoried the compound's striking security features they became convinced that it housed a high-level al-Qaeda figure."


2010s

Using satellite photos and intelligence reports, the CIA sought to identify the inhabitants of the fortified compound in Abbottabad. In September 2010, the CIA concluded that the compound was "custom built to hide someone of significance" and that it was very likely that Osama bin Laden was residing there. Al-Kuwaiti was said to be one of the two tall fair-skinned bearded men who claimed to be ethnic
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
s and were known in the community to be living at the house and occasionally attended local funerals. He went locally by the name Arshad Khan, and his brother (or cousin as some neighbors thought) went by the name Tareq Khan. They claimed to be from a village near the town of
Charsadda Chārsadda (; ; ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
province (old name NWFP). Some locals thought that the Khan brothers had obtained their wealth from a family-owned hotel in Dubai. Al-Kuwaiti also claimed that because of his occupation as a money changer, he needed high walls to keep out enemies he had encountered in his profession. He was described as "a friendly man from the tribal-areas".


Death

Al-Kuwaiti, along with Bin Laden, was killed during the raid on the compound by a
United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and unofficially known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often r ...
team on 2 May 2011. According to the 2012 book ''
No Easy Day ''No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden'' (2012) is a military memoir by a former member of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) who participated in the mission that resulte ...
'' by Chief Petty Officer Matt Bissonnette (under the pen name Mark Owen), al-Kuwaiti was shot and killed by Bissonnette and Petty Officer 1st Class Will Chesney (the latter was the handler of Cairo, a
Belgian Shepherd The Belgian Shepherd (), also known as the Belgian Sheepdog () or the Chien de Berger Belge, is a Belgian breed of herding dog of medium size. It is bred in four distinct varieties based on coat type and colour: the long-haired black Groenen ...
and U.S.
military working dog Dogs have a very long history in warfare, beginning in ancient times. From being trained in combat, to their use as scouts, sentries, messengers, mercy dogs, and trackers, their uses have been varied, and some continue to exist in modern milit ...
who also participated in the raid) during a short gunfight in the compound's guest house. Bissonnette was lightly injured with bullet fragments in the left shoulder while al-Kuwaiti's wife Mariam was shot and wounded in the right shoulder in the crossfire.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuwaiti, Abu Ahmed al 1978 births 2011 deaths Kuwaiti al-Qaeda members Pakistani al-Qaeda members Al-Qaeda planners Killing of Osama bin Laden Deaths by firearm in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pashtun people Kuwaiti people of Pakistani descent Date of birth missing Place of birth missing