Taliban Bin Laden planned Cheney attack

CAIRO, Egypt - A top Taliban commander said al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden was behind the February attack outside the U.S. military base in Bagram,
Afghanistan, during the visit there by Vice President
Dick Cheney, according to an interview shown Wednesday by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Bin Laden planned and supervised the attack that killed 23 people outside the base during Cheney's visit, said Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's main military commander in southern Afghanistan who has had close associations with al-Qaida.

"You may remember the martyr operation inside the Bagram base, which targeted a senior U.S. official. ... That operation was the result of his wise planning. He (bin Laden) planned that operation and guided us through it. The operation was a success," Dadullah told Al-Jazeera.

He did not say how he knew that bin Laden planned the attack, and it was not immediately clear when the interview took place.