Pakistani authorities have released four members of the Taliban’s intelligence wing who had been detained for several months in Peshawar on charges of espionage. Local sources confirmed the release on Friday, noting that the arrests had originally been part of a broader crackdown on suspected Afghan operatives within Pakistan.
In recent months, Pakistan has frequently accused Afghan nationals of involvement in acts of sabotage and terrorist activities on its soil. In a related development earlier this year, Pakistani security forces announced in February 2025 that they had killed eight khawarij in North Waziristan. Among the dead was an Afghan Taliban fighter reportedly from Chak District in Maidan Wardak province.
Further intensifying concerns over cross-border terror links, Pakistani security officials told afghan media today, that Badrud-Din Yousaf, the son of the Taliban’s deputy governor in Badghis province, was killed in a counterinsurgency operation in Kulachi, located in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Yousaf, who served as a trainer at a Fitna al-Khawarij camp, was reportedly denied burial by Taliban leadership before eventually being laid to rest in Bala Murghab district of Ghor province.
These developments reflect the complex and often tense security dynamics between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, amid persistent cross-border terror activities and intelligence operations.
