Al - Qaeda guest houses , Kabul American counter - terrorism analysts justified the continued extrajudicial detention of many Guantanamo captive s because they were suspected of staying in al - Qaeda safe house s , or guest house s — or because names matching theirs , or their " known alias " were found in the suspect houses . Claims nuclear blueprints were found in a Kabul safehouse . During a November 15 , 2001 press briefing by Spencer Abraham , Secretary of Energy , and Tom Ridge , Director of Homeland Security Ridge confirmed a report published by " The Times " that the U . S . had captured nuclear blueprints in an al Qaeda guest house in Kabul . Ridge stated that the capture of the nuclear blueprints in this al - Qaeda guesthouse was consistent with Osama bin Laden ' s plans to become a nuclear threat . David Rohde , writing for the " New York Times " News Service , reported on November 17 , 2001 , that in addition to nuclear plans , safe houses contained flight simulator programs , documents about the handling of biological and chemical weapons , and information about flight training schools in Florida . " CNN " claimed to have found and gone through the Kabul safe house used by Abu Khabbab , who they described as " " Osama bin Laden ' s top chemical and biological weapons commander . " " " CNN " hired the Institute for Science and International Security to examine the documents they found , and its President , David Albright , confirmed the abandoned documents included plans for a nuclear bomb , and extensive training notes on the handling of radiological material . The Combatting Terrorism Center reported that Abu Hafs al Masri ( aka Mohammed Atef ) , al Qaida ' s military chief , was killed in an air strike on an " " al Qa ' ida safehouse " " in Kabul , in November 2001 . Alleged to have stayed in Kabul safe houses associated with the Taliban or al - Qaeda . American counter - terrorism analysts called many of the houses " safe houses " , even when the captives stayed in these houses during the time the Taliban was in power . Individuals alleged to have stayed in Kabul safe houses associated with the Taliban or al Qaeda include : Musa Ali Said Al Said Al Umari , Ridouane Khalid Abd Al Rahman Al Zahri Mamdouh Habib . Alleged to have stayed in Kabul guest houses that had ties to terrorism . Intelligence analysts described a number of other individuals as having stayed in Kabul guest houses tied to terrorism , without an explicit tie to either the Taliban or al Qaeda : Muaz Hamza Ahmad Al Alawi Faruq Ali Ahmed Samir Naji Al Hasan Moqbel Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi Abdul Rahman Ma Ath Thafir Al Amri < a href = " Atag % 20Ali % 20Abdoh % 20Al - Haj " > Atag Ali Abdoh Al - Haj < / a » Djamel Ameziane Abd Al Hadio Omar Mahmoud Faraj Bessam Muhammed Saleh Al Dubaikey Abdallah Tohtasinovich Magrupov Abdul Khaled Ahmed Sahleh Al Bedani Abdullah Mohammad Khan Adel Noori Ayoub Murshid Ali Saleh Mohammed Yacoub . Alleged to have stayed in Kabul houses , without any explicit allegation of ties to terrorism . Some Guantanamo captives faced the allegation that they stayed in Afghan guest houses that were not explicitly tied to terrorism . They include : Arkin Mahmud Issam Hamid Al Bin Ali Al Jayfi Richard Belmar Shawki Awad Balzuhair . Managers of suspect guest houses . Some Guantanamo captives were alleged to have managed guest houses or safe houses on behalf of the Taliban , al Qaeda , or other organizations American counter - terrorism analysts asserted had ties to terrorism .