And those are his words, not a transcript from a conversation by someone typing shorthand, but from a video where he spoke those words, heard and seen by millions of arabic speaking viewers, many of whom had no reason to mis-translate what he said.
Sure, he may have denied it in the days following 9/11, but why give your enemies any information, especially if you may have other things planned?
I think you can say there were people in the Saudi government somewhere who were in cahoots with him if you can provide proof, but I don’t think you can reasonably say he didn’t have a major role (if not THE major role) when he explicitly talks about planning it.
Here’s OBL in an interview six days after 9/11:
“I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle.”
There is zero speculation involved here - it’s a flat-out denial, and it’s in the immediate aftermath of the attack.
You don’t have to read into a single thing here. You don’t have to guess what he means.
This quote is six days afterwards, not three years of war and a manhunt specifically aimed at him afterwards.
It is here I will point out that the quote you raised is from 2004. But we didn’t invade Afghanistan in 2004, we invaded at the start of 2002.
So what evidence is there, that was available at the time the decision was made to invade Afghanistan, that OBL directed 9/11?
Keep looking - if it exists, you definitely haven’t found it yet and aren’t close.