THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Exclusive: Nobody could fault them. The Khans were good neighbours, always polite, and more than a cut above the rest, reports Peter Oborne.They spoke perfect Pashtu - the language of Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas - in a cultivated, urban accent. They were careful to pay their bills on time and popular with local shop keepers.
Women and children came and went, travelling mostly in a red Suzuki van. The family were well off, telling locals that they had made their money trading gold.
Certainly, they were reclusive. The imposing house in Abbottabad had high walls and was fortified by barbed wire. They never handed out their phone numbers. There were no telephones in the house, and no internet.
When school children playing cricket knocked balls into their compound they were never allowed in to find them instead the Khan’s would pay them 100 rupees - approximately 70p - as compensation.
But nobody made anything of it. Neighbours simply assumed that the head of the household - who called himself Arshad Khan, like many other Pakistan businessmen, have made some powerful enemies in his road to riches.
Now they know that the secret the “Khans” were hiding was Osama bin Laden and that “Mr Khan” was in all likelihood one of his most trusted couriers, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.
Local residents yesterday spoke of an apparently friendly family whose determination to protect their privacy was now suddenly understandable. Continue reading and comment » | Peter Oborne | Tuesday, May 03, 2011
My comment:
The imposing house in Abbottabad had high walls...
I have heard OBL's house described as "an imposing house" and "a mansion." I don't get it! It looks like no mansion I've ever seen before! In fact, it looks ugly, unimposing, unimpressive, and ramshackle. Views taken of the inside resemble what I would imagine a slum to be like. It certainly wasn't grand, and nor was it comfortable. In fact, it looks like 'the house that Jack built'! I'm sure he could have afforded much better.
As for the neighbours not recognising him – that's hard to swallow. OBL had very distinctive features. One couldn't mistake him a mile off.
The whole story sounds very fishy to me. – Mark
This comment also appears here
