Qaeda Chief Bin Laden ‘Healthy and Active,' Taliban Says

A Taliban commander in Afghanistan said Al Qaeda's chief, Osama bin Laden, is alive and well, according to the transcript of a video provided by an American-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, the IntelCenter in Alexandria, Va., said yesterday.

Since Mr. bin Laden escaped American and Afghan forces at the battle of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan in December 2001, there have been no confirmed sightings of him. Several video and audio tapes have since been released 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 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 Mr. bin Laden's capture.

Mr. Dadullah, whose brother Mullah Dadullah was a top commander in the Taliban until he was killed this year, said he was contacted by Mr. 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.'"

"There's a very high percentage chance" that Mr. bin Laden is dead, Will Geddes, managing director of the London-based International Corporate Protection security company, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Even if Mr. bin Laden is alive, it may not be a "massive blow" to the American government, Mr. Geddes said. "Al Qaeda is no longer one man leading an international army." The organization has become a "generic umbrella name," he said.

L'Est Republicain newspaper reported in September that Saudi Arabian intelligence officials believe the Saudi-born Mr. bin Laden died from a fever in a remote region of Pakistan.

The French newspaper cited a report from France's DGSE external intelligence agency. Saudi Arabia and Western governments cast doubt on the report.