Alleged Times Square Bomber: How Did it Come to This?

May 5, 2010— -- Since the arrest of Faisal Shahzad in connection with the attempted car bombing of Times Square, one question has loomed large: What was the turning point that transformed him into an alleged terrorist?

ABC News traveled to Peshawar, Pakistan, to speak with his acquaintances and find the beginning of the trail to a potential bombing.

A Simple Youth

In the simple village of Mohib Banda, a small town in Peshawar, Faisal Shahzad stood out.

He was from what was by local standards a wealthy family, as his father was a senior officer in the Pakistan air force. Friends describe a young Faisal as a "mama's boy" who hated violence.

This morning, ABC News met his cousin, who told us the same things Shehzad's neighbors in Connecticut have been telling authorities and the media.

"I can't believe he could have done such a thing," he told us. "He wasn't that type of person."

His family was apparently not religious. Family friends say they were never seen praying.

When Faisal Shazad grew older, his family moved into a house in one of the nicest neighborhoods in Peshawar. They are a professional, educated family. Friends say two of his siblings moved to Canada, and one of his sisters is a doctor.

The Turning Point

Shahzad moved to the United States 11 years ago, and in 2004, he married a Pakistani-American woman with a degree in business. But, at some point after his innocent youth and marriage, according to people who knew him in Pakistan, he turned.

Faisal Shahzad Was 'Angry' About U.S. Policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Friend Says

Villagers in Mohib Banda told ABC News, "before his marriage he was liberal, even cosmopolitan. After, he changed."

This change also turned him against the United States of America, people who knew him said.

"We talked about the American policies toward Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan," a childhood friend of Shahzad, Nasir Khan, told ABC News. "He was very much angry at that."

Khan said he last saw his former friend 18 months ago.

Shahzad returned to his hometown last fall. Since his arrest, he has allegedly told American investigators he moved on from there to Waziristan in an attempt to join with militants receive deadly training.

Waziristan is a notoriously rough and mostly ungoverned district six hours from Peshawar. While in Waziristan, he could have found any of a half-dozen militant groups.

By the time he left Pakistan less than three months ago, U.S. officials said, Shahzad had already decided to attack the country that only last year granted him citizenship.