Osama bin Laden was the founder and leader of the militant Islamist terrorist organization known as al-Qaeda. He established al-Qaeda in 1988 after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, aiming to continue jihad through violent means globally. Under his leadership, al-Qaeda orchestrated numerous attacks, including the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa and the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. Bin Laden's group sought to oppose U.S. influence in the Muslim world and pursued a violent agenda to establish a pan- Islamic state