When President Barack Obama ordered the takedown attack on Osama Bin Laden, it was with the understanding to the troops that they were to arrest and detain the terrorist leader if he were to surrender. The troops and advisers, on the other hand did not expect that to happen in any way.

As everyone knows by now, surrender was not an option for the man who has been hunted by the United States for nearly ten years. He had slipped away from troops on several other occasions, sometimes coming out of hiding long enough to taunt the US with videos and threats.

Called “the gutsiest call of any President in recent memory” by John Brennan, the current assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism. The attack focused on a mansion in the city of Abbottabad which is located just thirty miles north of the Pakistani capital city, Islamabad, where intelligence had said Bin Laden was holed up. In addition to Bin Laden himself, four others in the mansion were killed during the attack, including Bin Laden’s adult son and one of his many wives. The woman was reportedly used by either Bin Laden or one of the other men as a human shield when the fighting started. Bin Laden also was alleged to have picked up a gun and actively participated in the brief fire fight.

Confirmation of the death of Bin Laden was done by DNA matching, putting to rest the worry that the wrong person might have been killed yet again. Additionally, photos of the dead man were shown to those who would have knowledge of Bin Laden’s appearance, showing the dead man with an obvious gunshot wound to the side of the head. Those photos are currently being hotly debated- whether they are going to be released, when they would be released and to what degree they would be released.

The US government has already caught flak for photos recently published in Rolling Stone magazine which showed the US government mistreating a slain, unarmed teen as well as other civilians. The difference here, of course is not only in the tone of the photographs but in the subject matter as well.

Also taken during the assault was what the military is calling “substantial” material and evidence which may show not only any further connection between Bin Laden and other possible countries that can be linked to the terrorist attacks on the US and other countries but may also show how he has been managing to avoid US military operatives for all of these years.

There are plenty of questions that are yet to be answered, and it is with great hopes that these stacks of papers and other documents can give some of these answers to a nation that greatly needs them. One of those questions, now loudest among the others is will the US finally be able to pull out of Afghanistan?