--- title: Osama bin Laden Interview in 1996: How it Happened description: In 1996, the magazine tracked him down canonical: https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-24T13:00:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:36:11.712Z article:section: History og:title: Osama bin Laden Interview in 1996: How it Happened og:description: In 1996, the magazine tracked him down og:url: https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d375422996c50b9/69876a4ecd1bba10776f3aef/osama.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Osama Bin Laden og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Osama bin Laden Interview in 1996: How it Happened twitter:description: In 1996, the magazine tracked him down twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d375422996c50b9/69876a4ecd1bba10776f3aef/osama.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How TIME Secured Its First Interview with Osama bin Laden  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2014 1:00 PM UTC  Osama bin Laden is shown in Afghanistan in this April 1998 file photo Osama bin Laden is shown in Afghanistan in this April 1998 file photoAnonymous—AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 24, 2014 1:00 PM UTC After [the car carrying Sheik Abdullah Azzam hit a land mine](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1977881%5F1977895%5F1978710,00.html), on this day 25 years ago — Nov. 24, 1989 — it took years for TIME to take note of what had come to pass: Azzam’s death meant that his number-two in the jihadi organization Azzam had founded would come to lead the movement. That man was named Osama bin Laden. It was 25 years ago that he went from being a financier and deputy to the top global proponent of jihad. Bin Laden received a small mention in TIME in 1993 in a list of figures related to the history of fighting in Afghanistan — but in 1996 the magazine’s Scott MacLeod secured an exclusive interview. Here’s how it happened, as he would describe in the May 6 issue of that year: --- > “” --- The final story functions more as an introduction to extremism than as a profile of the man in question, but it nevertheless appears to hint at what the world now knows was the extent of his influence. **_Read the full story here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Palladin of Jihad](http://time.com/vault/issue/1996-05-06/page/51/) Osama bin Laden Interview in 1996: How it Happened ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/"},"headline":"How TIME Secured Its First Interview with Osama bin Laden","datePublished":"2014-11-24T13:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:36:11.712Z","description":"In 1996, the magazine tracked him down","url":"https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/","keywords":["Media","al-Qaeda","Terrorism","Osama Bin laden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d375422996c50b9/69876a4ecd1bba10776f3aef/osama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3d375422996c50b9/69876a4ecd1bba10776f3aef/osama.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Osama Bin Laden","caption":"Osama Bin Laden","creditText":"Anonymous—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3598204/osama-bin-laden-history/","name":"How TIME Secured Its First Interview with Osama bin Laden"}}]}] ```