Rachel Maddow has ridiculed this idea, stating that many major al-Qaeda leaders were captured in large cities in Pakistan — just like Osama Bin Laden himself.
In March, 2002 Abu Zubaidah was captured in Faisalaba. In September of that year, Ramzi Binalshibh was arrested in Karachi. In March, 2003 the infamous Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was arrested in Rawalpindi. He was a major force in the 911 events and involved in the the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl. Two weeks later, Yassir al-Jaziri was arrested in Lahore. He is thought to be number seven in the Al Qaeda chain of command.
In July of 2004, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was arrested in Gujra, Pakistan. He was tied to the the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
In May 2005, Abu Faraj al-Libi was arrested by the Pakistani intelligence near Peshawar. He’s thought to be the number three man in al-Qaeda at the time. He had received word that he had been made operational leader from a courier sent by bin Laden himself.
Tracing the activities of that courier led to discovering bin Laden’s whereabouts. It turned out that bin Laden was sequestered in a compound once occupied by al-Libi. Hiding in plain sight.
All al-Qaeda members. All captured in Pakistan. Not a single one hiding in caves in the lawless tribal region in the northwest part of the country, where the US supposedly thought Bin Laden and his associates were.