Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in an online audio message, pledged allegiance to the new head of the Afghan Taliban, who was appointed last month after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike.
Slain Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour used a Pakistani passport in a false name to make dozens of foreign trips over a 10-year period, mainly to the United Arab Emirates, officials told AFP on Tuesday.
A delegation from the Afghan Taliban's political office in Qatar arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to discuss the restarting of peace talks with Kabul, militant sources said.
A top Pakistani official has said for the first time publicly that the Afghan Taliban's leadership enjoys a safe haven inside his country, which Islamabad uses as a "lever" to pressure the group into talks with Kabul.
