The CIA's release of the additional 4.70 lakh files seized during the May 2011 Navy Seals raid of Osama bin Laden's Abottabad compound is a mix of the inane and the esoteric. If one tranche contained movies including Antz, Cars, Chicken Little, and Resident Evil, another contained propaganda material and videos of beheading.
Some reports said a Press Trust of India (PTI) story headlined 'Al-Qaeda helping Taliban to destabilize Pakistan Government: Gates,' dated February 9, 2010, was also found on bin Laden’s computer.
A private journal of the fugitive leader throws lights on the things that mattered to him most. From corroborated reports, Osama keenly followed Kashmir developments and the arrest of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley. He was also an ardent reader of some Indian publications, including articles in some major newspapers.
The CIA has not published some of the copyrighted material like the BBC titled 'The Story of India' found from Osama's hard disc.
Bin Laden's tactical maneuvering to keep splinter groups and affiliates together, in the face of tactical and doctrinal differences, are also documented. Other 'thematic' material include the al-Qaeda's plans to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the terror groups efforts to take advantage of the Arab awakening, and systematic efforts to propagate its ideas through the western media.
The total size of the tranche runs into hundreds of gigabytes and the CIA has classified it into audio, documents, images, and video to make search easier. The CIA said some material has been held back as it would directly affect efforts to keep the nation secure.
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