A high-level member of al-Qaeda, Taliban military commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani, was interviewed on Pakistani television today and said Osama is alive and well, as is fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar.

The man said the Taliban are still organized and senior Taliban leaders hold regular consultations. "Our discipline is strong. We have regular meetings. We make programs," the man said. He said Omar does not attend the meetings but "decisions come from his side." He did not say where those meetings take place.

On a related note, 14 people were killed in Afghanistan today:

Fighting between about 90 suspected Taliban rebels and hundreds of Afghan soldiers and U.S.-led coalition troops left seven insurgents dead and 10 wounded, while a rebel attack on a medical clinic killed a doctor and six others, officials said Wednesday.

....Even though U.S. military commanders are upbeat about progress in making Afghanistan secure, there has been a sharp rise in violence since spring. President Hamid Karzai's administration has warned that Taliban-led rebels and al-Qaida militants are trying to subvert crucial legislative elections in September.