Bin Laden alive and well, says Taliban commander
The brother and successor of dead Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said in a television interview today that he had received a letter from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden expressing condolences for his brother's death.
Dadullah Mansoor told Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera that bin Laden sent him a letter after his brother, Mullah Dadullah, the former top Taliban field commander, was killed in southern Afghanistan last month.
"He is alive, active and well," Mansoor said of bin Laden.
"He preferred to stay away, and we preferred that, because he should stay in hiding and give instructions."
The interview showed a bearded Mansoor sitting on the ground outdoors in a traditional Afghan robe and black turban.
Fighters with AK-47s were seen behind the Taliban's new southern commander, although their faces were not visible.
Mansoor was named as his brother's replacement after a US-led coalition raid in southern Afghanistan last month killed the older Dadullah.
Taliban and al-Qaida leaders have paid tribute to one another in recent months.
In an interview shown on Al-Jazeera in April, Dadullah credited bin Laden with organising a suicide attack in February outside the main US military base in Afghanistan during a visit by US Vice President Dick Cheney.
Last month, the deputy leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahri, hailed Mullah Dadullah in a taped audio message as a heroic Islamic warrior and offered condolences to the Taliban for his loss.
Bin Laden, al-Zawahri and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar are all believed to be in hiding somewhere in the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
