Authenticity of bin Laden videotape questioned

An image taken from a video of Osama bin Laden broadcast Friday in Qatar

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Qatari television broadcast a videotape Friday of Osama bin Laden vowing to free an Egyptian cleric jailed in the United States. But the authenticity of the tape is in question.

An official of the Taliban government in Afghanistan -- where bin Laden is living -- issued a statement calling the tape a "fabrication and a fake."

A U.S. official said: "It is bin Laden. The question is when."

Bin Laden, a Saudi exile, is on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, with a $5 million reward for his capture. He is accused of planning the 1998 bombings that destroyed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing more than 220 people.

U.S. intelligence officials said Friday they have examined the tape but are "unable to say" whether it is a recent recording or an older one being falsely presented as a new statement.

Qatar television said it had been told the recording was made about four months ago.

An FBI web site shows an image of bin Laden

On the tape bin Laden vows to work to obtain the freedom of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison. He was convicted in 1996 of conspiracy in a plot to blow up the United Nations, kill Egypt's president and bomb vital highway tunnels in New York.

Bin Laden also vows to work for the freedom of "all our prisoners" in the U.S., Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Taliban statement says the tape could have been made from an old recording of bin Laden dating back many years. It says bin Laden, who has been described by a Taliban official as "a guest" in Afghanistan, has no access to communications equipment and is not allowed to make statements against other countries from Afghan soil.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have maintained that there is no proof that the Saudi-born national was engaged in terrorist activities.

The United Nations has imposed financial sanctions on the Taliban.

CNN National Security Correspondent David Ensor and CNN.com Writer Jonathan D. Austin contributed to this story.

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