They opted for the former, but the US operation reinforced an already strong anti-American sentiment among a population tired of the heavy financial and human toll paid for the war on terror—and Islamabad's alliance with Washington after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Pakistan was initially receptive to the founding myth of Al Qaeda — the resistance of Muslims to American imperialism.
But at the time of his death, Bin Laden's local popularity had waned.
"Before, I remember that people named their children Osama, even in my village," said Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai, a specialist in jihadist networks.
Bin Laden's death did not stop extremism from spreading in Pakistan, and conservative religious movements became even more influential.
Over the next three years, several terror groups — foremost among them the Pakistani Taliban — carried out bloody attacks and established strongholds in northwestern tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
A military campaign launched in 2014 helped bring down the violence, although a recent series of minor attacks has raised fears that extremists are regrouping.
'Some say he was good'
Without its charismatic leader, Al Qaeda "survived, but barely" and is no longer able to launch major attacks in the West, says Yusufzai.
The group is also no longer "a great threat to Pakistan", believes Hamid Mir — the last journalist to interview Bin Laden face-to-face — although other groups such as the Islamic State remain so.
He said while the Al-Qaeda founder is still seen as a "freedom fighter" by some, many also acknowledge him as "a bad person who killed innocent people and caused destruction — not only in Pakistan, but in many countries, in violation of the teachings of Islam".
Bin Laden nonetheless retains an aura in radical circles.
"He is alive in the heart of every Taliban and every jihadist", said Saad, an Afghan Taliban official living in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan caused a scandal two years ago by telling parliament that bin Laden had died a "martyr" — a noble demise in the Islamic world.
Even in Abbottabad, a prosperous and largely tolerant medium-sized city, there is ambiguity towards Bin Laden, whose house was razed in 2012 by authorities so that it would not become a memorial.
"In this street, there are differences of opinion," says teenage former neighbour Numan Hattak.
"Some say he was good, others that he was bad."
