It was not unusual to find wealthy Saudis on the periphery of the Afghan struggle against the Soviet Union. They would arrive in Afghan refugee camps, open briefcases full of cash, and distribute dollars to war widows and wounded veterans.
Mr Osama bin Laden was unusual. The son of a Saudi construction magnate went into the rugged Afghan mountains to fight, gaining a reputation for bravery and determination.
He used his millions to buy bulldozers to gouge guerrilla trails in the heart of Afghanistan and to bring in, by his count, thousands of Egyptians, Lebanese, Turks and others to join their Afghan Muslim brothers in the struggle against an ideology that spurned religion.
Nine years after the Soviets retreated from Afghanistan, terrorism experts say, Mr bin Laden is using his millions to fund attacks against the US such as, perhaps, the August 7th twin bombings of US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which killed 257 people.
Veterans of the pan-Muslim army Mr bin Laden raised to fight the Soviet Union remain loyal to the tall, robed figure some call a hero.
The US State Department calls him "one of the most significant sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today."
Throughout the 1980s, the US and Mr bin Laden were on the same side against the now-collapsed Soviet Union.
Mr bin Laden made no secret that he saw secular, powerful Washington as much an infidel as Moscow. But his first priority was the USSR, which invaded Afghanistan to prop up a communist government in December, 1979.
The few outsiders who have met Mr bin Laden describe him as modest, almost shy. He rarely gives interviews.
But he has allowed himself to be photographed, narrow eyes staring intently into the camera under a white turban, his long, thin face made even longer by a brush of greying beard falling to his chest.
He is believed to be in his late 40s and to have at least three wives.
In a series of fatwas, or religious edicts, faxed to the outside world from his hideout in Afghanistan, Mr bin Laden has laid out his case against the US.
He claims US soldiers protecting oil in his homeland are desecrating Muslim holy sites with their very presence. US power has emasculated Arab states, turning them into clients, and Washington is one of Israel's main allies.
"We - with God's help - call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans," read a February fatwa.