Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is orchestrating militants' operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior Taliban commander said in remarks broadcast today.
Bin Laden has not made any video statements for many months raising speculation that he might be dead.
"He is drawing plans in Iraq and Afghanistan ... Praise God he is alive," Mullah Dadullah told Al Jazeera television.
In September, a French newspaper quoted French foreign intelligence service as saying Saudi intelligence chiefs were convinced bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan in August.
Dadullah said bin Laden ordered the attack on February 27th at the US Bagram base during a visit by US vice president Dick Cheney to Afghanistan.
"Do you remember the martyrdom operation inside the Bagram base which targeted a senior American official ... this operation was the result of blessed plans put by him," Dadullah said. Al Jazeera said the US official Dadullah was referring to was Mr Cheney.
"He (bin Laden) guided us through it," he said, adding that no Afghan would have been able to penetrate the base if it was not for the world's most wanted militant.
Asked for reaction to Dadullah's assertion that bin Laden ordered the Bagram attack, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters: "It's an interesting claim but I haven't seen any intelligence that would support that."
About 14 people were killed, including one American and one South Korean soldier in the suicide bombing, which militants said targeted Mr Cheney. A US official then said Mr Cheney was about half a mile away on the base and was not in danger.
The Taliban were toppled in 2001 by a US-led coalition for refusing to hand over leaders of al Qaeda after the September 11th attacks in the United States.