WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden probably survived the U.S.-led bombing assaults on Afghanistan and is likely to be hiding in remote terrain on the Afghan-Pakistani border, the ***New York Times*** reported Sunday, quoting U.S. officials.

"We are quite certain he is alive and we think he is somewhere between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It may be that he moves back and forth between the two," a senior U.S. official told the daily.

U.S. officials told the daily that although they have narrowed down Bin Laden's whereabouts, capturing or killing the accused mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States was not likely in the short-run, but rather a "long-term proposition," AFP reported.

A senior U.S. official also told the daily that Washington believes it has scored significant success in disrupting Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, saying: "We've probably gotten about a third of the core leadership" of the group.

The White House now defines the scope of that leadership as between 20 and 25 key extremists, according to the newspaper.