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According to a Pashtu-language Afghan media report, Osama Bin Laden's elder son is living in the Afghan Taliban's spiritual capital, Kandahar, and occasionally holds consultative meetings with the Taliban supreme leader Sheikh Hibbatullah Akhundzada.[1] Taliban leader Sheikh Hebatullah Akhundzada is currently based in Kandahar.
According to the Pashtu website Taand.net, former Afghan army officer Lt.-General Sami Sadat, who was commander of the 215 Maiwand Corps in neighboring Helmand province before the Taliban took over the country, said that bin Laden's son has a wife from Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province and that the couple live there together. The Taliban rebranded the 215 Maiwand as the 215 Azam Corps after seizing power in November 2021.
Though Sadat did not name the son of Osama bin Laden, a Dari-language website published in February an unconfirmed report that Osama bin Laden's third son Saad Bin Laden, as well as Ibrahim Al-Banna, the founding member and senior leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), are living in Afghanistan and that the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), the Taliban government's intelligence agency, provides their security.[2]
Sadat said that when he announced war against the Taliban, his office in Turkey was shut down and the U.S. warned him, but opposition to him has since declined. He said he has held meetings with Afghan politicians over the past year to muster support for a war against the Taliban, but they regrettably ask: "Which country is supporting you?"
"Today, there is no need for America and Britain's support. Afghans can support each other. It is our own country, has been occupied [by the Taliban] and needs to be liberated. Whether the resources are fewer or huge, we should fight this war... We are right and the Taliban are wrong," he added.
An earlier report alleged that Saad bin Laden is living in Afghanistan
The former army general announced support for the anti-Taliban resistance groups in Afghanistan, including the National Resistance Front (NRF) led by Ahmad Massoud, the Afghanistan Liberation Front (ALF), the Indrabi Front, and others. Sadat said the anti-Taliban resistance should have a national character, fight under the national flag, and its fighters' vision should be national, including all of Afghanistan.
Some Afghan politicians are waiting for foreigners to give them aid and resources and encourage them to rise against the Taliban, Sadat said, adding that the fight against the Taliban is a national responsibility of the people of Afghanistan. He also said that Afghan security forces he led defeated many Taliban leaders on battlefield, including Ibrahim Sadr, Abdul Qayyum Zakir, and Mawlawi Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, all of whom are now ministers in the Taliban government.
Sadat tweeted a video in which he said on a Dari-language television channel that the time has come now and the Afghans should take their own steps. He also wrote in the tweet: "AFG [Afghanistan,] our beloved country is under [the] invasion of terrorism. We shall not wait for others to come to our aid."[3]
[1] March 2, 2023.
[2] MEMRI JTTM report Unconfirmed Afghan News Agency Report: Osama Bin Laden's Son Saad Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda In The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Founding Member And Senior Leader Ibrahim Al-Banna Living In Taliban Intelligence Safehouses, February 21, 2023.
[3] Twitter, March 1, 2023.
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