Taliban Leader | featured news

The New York Times said on Tuesday that a man it had described as a "Taliban leader" who had taken part in "secret peace talks" with the Afghan government was in fact an impostor.

Afghanistan's government denied a report on Tuesday that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban's number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar captured in Pakistan in secret raid by U.S., Pakistani intelligence forces.

Pakistan said on Wednesday it had information suggesting that Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud had died of wounds inflicted in a U.S. drone aircraft attack in January.

Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud is alive and remains in hiding, a spokesman for the group told CNN Thursday.

U.S. counterterrorism officials believe Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mahsud is dead following a missile attack last month, a senior intelligence official said Wednesday in the strongest signal that Washington has offered about the militant's fate.