Al-Qaida's military commander rejects US claims of success

The United States is lying when it claims to have destroyed the al-Qaida terror network in Afghanistan says the group's military commander.

He claims in a month of airstrikes, the United States had killed 1,600 civilians and had displaced millions of others.

Ayman el-Zawahri was speaking on a video tape sent to Qatari TV channel al-Jazeera.

"Let America describe us as (terrorists) as it wants, the truth remains ... its campaign will be a failure, God willing," he said.

"Let America mobilize as much as it can, and let it lie as much as it wants, the whole world will know after the upcoming strikes, God willing, who is the liar and who is telling the truth," he claimed.

El-Zawahri also raised the Middle East explaining US President George W Bush was ignoring the current crisis.

"The Palestinian issue, or more precisely, the Israeli-American crime in Palestine, will remain the axis of the conflict in the Muslim heartland, and the motive behind the holy struggle of Muslims against America," he said.

It was the fifth videotape from al-Qaida, Al-Jazeera has broadcast since the US and British strikes on Afghanistan began on October 7.