A transatlantic intelligence network tracking al-Qaeda has circulated video material it says depicts Hamza bin Laden inside Afghanistan, reviving questions over the group’s presence in the country and the extent of its ties with the Taliban, The Khaama Press News Agency has reported. The footage, which the consortium says was recorded earlier this year, appears to show the al-Qaeda figure in an outdoor location with an urban backdrop. Identifying markers were removed before release, and no specific location was disclosed.

In 2019, Donald Trump in his first stint as US president announced that bin Laden had been killed in a US operation in the Afghan - Pakistan area. This now appears to have been incorrect.

The Taliban have not responded to the claim. Instead, according to Khaama Press, they maintain that no foreign militant organisations operate from Afghan territory and have dismissed repeated allegations of harbouring al-Qaeda members since returning to power.

The latest assessment follows lingering concerns raised after the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul in mid-2022, an episode that intensified scrutiny of the security landscape after the US withdrawal. Successive UN monitoring reports have continued to highlight al-Qaeda’s links with other militant factions and have listed areas in Parwan, Ghazni, Laghman and Uruzgan where training activity has previously been detected.

The report claims that researchers at a Paris-based strategic institute have separately suggested that Hamza bin Laden may be located in Panjshir province, though the assertion remains unverified.

As a result, the release of the video has prompted renewed debate among Western security analysts, who argue that the material—if authenticated—could indicate that senior al-Qaeda figures remain mobile and capable of operating across Afghan territory despite prolonged counterterrorism efforts. Some analysts suggest the timing may be intended to reinforce the notion that the organisation’s upper ranks remain intact.