Where is Osama bin Laden? The American news network, NBC, says he dined in a Jalalabad restaurant with close aides last week.
Local intelligence sources say he was riding four days ago on horseback through the White Mountain near Tora Bora.
The Northern Alliance Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, is convinced he is holed up in Kandahar with the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar.
A colleague thought he saw him in the market yesterday. The big talk in Jalalabad is that the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, may be in hiding, with 2,000 Arab al-Qaeda fighters, 20 miles away in the village of Tora Bora in White Mountain.
They say he is preparing for a long period of guerilla warfare.
The fact that US bombs were dropped in Tora Bora and on former bin Laden hideouts in recent days is a further indication that American intelligence believe the fugitive is there.
It is rumoured that the al-Qaeda network of underground hideouts, dug into the mountain, are being extended, and that local people are being paid huge amounts of money to do this work.
Intelligence sources in Jalalabad say food and supplies are being smuggled from the town to the Tora Bora al-Qaeda camp.
Senior commander in Jalalabad's military base, Haji Alwalsayd, told The Irish Times yesterday that bin Laden's men paid local people $2,000 each to leave Tora Bora village two weeks ago.
"I know people who came from there to Jalalabad and who had been paid by Osama," he said.
Those who were paid off moved to nearby districts. Some came shopping with their new-found wealth to Jalalabad.
"Osama lived here in this province before," Commander Alwalsayd said. "Osama is very powerful. He is fighting against America. He must have more intelligent intelligence than America," he added.
The word is that the road to Tora Bora is too dangerous for any foreigners to travel, so it is impossible to confirm all the claims.
Conditions in White Mountain are exceptionally harsh in winter. The mountain has been a hiding place for guerillas since the invasion of the Soviets.
Its caves open onto the steep mountain sides, making it almost impossible to penetrate them with bombs.
Commander Alwalsayd fought the Soviets in Tora Bora in the 80s and knows the area well. He said it is a very difficult area to penetrate. It is protected from both the air and the ground.
When asked if the Americans have asked for help in tracking Osama, or if they were on the ground in the region, the commander smiles and puts his fingers to his lips.
He indicated that would be a secret.
"Even if it were true I wouldn't be able to talk about it," he said, further adding to the intrigue.