Laden still issuing orders, says US General

Maj. Gen. Eric Olson said that an al-Qaeda linked group was suspected of a deadly car bombing at a US security firm in the Afghan capital last month. He said the attack was a suicide mission.

"There are senior leaders of al-Qaeda that are working through operatives in Afghanistan," Olson told The Associated Press in an interview. "They are involved in planning and in some cases directing attacks inside of Afghanistan."

Olson, the operational commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan, said the military had no fix on the whereabouts of either bin Laden or al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri. But the involvement of well-trained foreign fighters in attacks near the Pakistani border convinced him that the fugitive leaders were pulling the strings.