Taliban Commander – Osama Bin Laden Is Alive
August 22, 2007 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
A Taliban commander in Afghanistan said al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is alive and well, according to the transcript of a video provided by a US-based organization that monitors extremist Web sites.
“He is extremely healthy and active,” Mansour Dadullah said, according to the video’s English-language subtitles. The clip was dated June 15, according to reports.
Since bin Laden escaped US and Afghan forces at the battle of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan in December 2001, there have been no confirmed sightings of him.
He has released several video and audio tapes from his presumed hiding places on the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Bush administration said in its latest National Intelligence Estimate last month that al-Qaeda, the group that carried out the September 11 attacks on the US, is regaining strength in Pakistan and honing its tactics in Iraq.
The State Department is offering as much as $25 million for information leading to bin Laden’s capture.
Dadullah, whose brother Mullah Dadullah was a top commander in the Taliban until he was killed this year, said he was contacted by bin Laden.
“I received a message from him in which he advised me, ‘I must follow Mullah Dadullah and continue the same activities so that the mujahedeen may not weaken.’ ”
