( CNN ) -- A diplomatic source told CNN that the courier who was in close contact with Osama bin Laden and who eventually led the United States to him was a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad . U.S. officials have said that when the identity of the courier -- who they have not named -- was established in 2007 the U.S. began a path to the house in Abbottabad , Pakistan , where the al Qaeda leader was living . Analysis of assessments of detainees held at the U.S. Navy 's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , include several mentions of a man by the name of Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti , who was reportedly close to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- also a Kuwaiti . The information on the detainee assessments came from U.S. Defense Department documents published by WikiLeaks . Since the operation that killed bin Laden , U.S. officials have described the courier they were tracking as a protege of Mohammed and another senior member of al Qaeda , Abu Faraj al Libi , a Libyan detainee who was named as al Qaeda 's third most senior leader when he was captured in May 2005 . Bin Laden killing caps decade-long manhunt . One assessment -- compiled in October 2008 -- concerns a Saudi citizen called Maad al Qathani , the man who was intended to be the `` 20th hijacker '' on 9/11 but who failed to gain entry to the United States . It said : `` Detainee is associated with other key al-Qaida members including senior operations planners Khalid Shaykh Muhammad . '' The document later said that al Qathani `` received computer training from al-Qaida member Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti in preparation for his mission to the U.S. '' Al Kuwaiti was then `` a senior al Qaeda facilitator and subordinate '' of Mohammed . The assessment added : `` Al-Kuwaiti worked in the al-Qaida media house operated by KU-10024 ( Mohammed ) in Kandahar and served as a courier . '' No obvious replacement to succeed bin Laden as al Qaeda 's leader . Al Qathani reportedly spent about three months in basic training with al Qaeda from December 2000 to February 2001 when he was introduced to bin Laden . Establishing al Qathani 's association with Mohammed , the assessment continued : `` Detainee stated UBL told him that since he ( detainee ) loved to serve his religion , he must go to KU-10024 , who will ask him to `` do things . '' It was the first of several encounters with the al Qaeda leader , to whom al Qathani swore a personal oath of allegiance . The document established that al Kuwaiti was close to bin Laden and traveled with him . `` Al-Kuwaiti was seen in Tora Bora and it is possible al-Kuwaiti was one of the individuals detainee reported accompanying UBL in Tora Bora prior to UBL 's disappearance , '' it says . In an assessment of al Qathani 's intelligence value , the document noted that he `` had access to the inner circles of al-Qaida through his interactions with senior al-Qaida members including UBL , ( Ayman al- ) Zawahiri , KU-10024 ( Mohammed ) and others . '' Al-Zawahiri was al Qaeda 's No . 2 man under bin Laden . Another detainee assessment also mentioned al Kuwaiti . It was of an Indonesian member of al Qaeda called Riduan Isomuddin , who had spent nearly two years in the 1980s fighting jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan . He also knew Mohammed , according to the assessment , which said that `` in November 2001 , detainee and his wife left Kandahar for Karachi . They stayed at the Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti guest house for two weeks . '' Al Qaeda operated a network of guest houses ( or safe houses ) in Afghanistan and Pakistan before and immediately after the 9/11 attacks . Isomuddin was captured in August 2003 in Thailand by a joint Thai-U.S. operation and is described in the assessment as a `` high-value detainee . '' CNN has been unable to confirm with U.S. officials the identity of the courier , but several factors point to al Kuwaiti as the courier who inadvertently led the United States to bin Laden 's hiding place : al Kuwaiti 's reported history with the organization , his access to senior leaders , his description in the Guantanamo assessment as a courier , and the fact that he was never captured . CNN has been unable to establish whether he was at the compound when U.S. forces staged their raid or whether he was killed in the operation .
U.S. officials have said the identity of the courier was revealed in 2007 . Once the courier was captured the U.S. began a raid to the compound where bin Laden lived . CNN unable to establish whether the man was at the compound during raid . Bin Laden was captured by American forces early Monday .