All that’s left are the chickens.
Just 1,300 meters away from Pakistan’s esteemed Military Academy, where the country’s top officers are trained, is the spot where the Waziristan Haveli — also known as Osama bin Laden’s compound — stood.
Today, there is nothing left except a car and some poultry roaming the land where the 9/11 terrorist leader once lived. This video, taken surreptitiously by a passerby, shows how bin Laden was living practically under the nose of the military: The trip between his compound and the academy takes just 22 seconds.
As The Post reported last week, Peter L. Bergen’s new book “The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden” (Simon & Schuster) details how bin Laden was caught because of his family hanging their clothes out to dry, “bin Laden sent his bodyguard, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed abd al-Hamid, to buy some land, hire an architect, and build a fortress big enough to house the family in Abbottabad, Pakistan.”
Comprised of a main house and several other homes, as well as an adjacent grazing area for cows, chickens and a buffalo, the original havelli also had a deep water well, so occupants never had to leave for food or water.
The three-story main structure had four bedrooms on the first floor and four more on the second, with a bathroom for each of the sleeping quarters. The top floor contained a bedroom, bathroom, study and terrace used by bin Laden.
America’s most wanted man lived here, next to the academy, for more than five years along with his four wives, as well as children and bodyguards. The notorious hideout was raided in the early morning hours of May 2, 2011, almost 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. During the raid, US Navy seals killed the terrorists and found a cache of computer drives.
In February 2012, the Pakistani government knocked down the mansion to prevent mujahideen from memorializing it and turning it into a perverse pilgrimage spot.
“It was a stain on our country — a huge embarrassment. It is good it is gone,” one Pakistani told The Post.