 A brother of a slain Taliban leader said al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was alive and well and that he had received a letter of condolence from him after his brother was killed in May.
"Dear Haji Mansur,
Hi! How are you?" |
"He is alive, active and well," Haji Mansour Dadullah, a Taliban militant leader, said of bin Laden.
"I am fine. So are the kids. How're your little ones doing?" |
"He sent me a letter of condolence after the martyrdom of my brother Mullah Dadullah," he told Al Jazeera television. It was not clear when the interview was taken.
"Sorry to hear about your brother getting shot to shreds. That musta really hurt, briefly." |
Mullah Dadullah was killed by U.S.-led forces. His death was seen as the most serious blow to the Taliban insurgency since the militants' removal from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring bin Laden and Qaeda militants. Bin Laden "told me to follow in the steps of my brother and urged Muslims to follow the steps of Mullah Dadullah because he was a mujahid", said Dadullah, who was described by Jazeera as a Taliban military leader.
"I really hope you follow in your brother's footsteps and get shot to shreds, too. All Muslims should, really." |
Mullah Dadullah was the main architect behind rising attacks, including suicide raids, against Afghan and Western troops in southern Afghanistan, as well as kidnappings of foreigners and locals and a series of beheadings. Mullah Dadullah has been replaced by his relatively unknown brother, Mullah Bakht Mohammad.
"Has Mullah Bakht found his ass yet? He should use both hands. That always works better for me." |
Dadullah told Jazeera that Saudi-born bin Laden was avoiding media exposure for safety. "These are just military tactics. He prefers not to appear because if he appeared in the media or met people he might face danger," he said.
"I am enjoying my stay here at Fazlur Rehman's guest house. I'll probably stay here for quite a while longer, since I'm too important to The Movement® to get shot to shreds." |
"I urged him not to meet anyone and to stay in hiding and continue to give directives ... so that al Qaeda stays active in Afghanistan and the world," he said in an interview conducted in an open field in Afghanistan.
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