Afghan Taliban 'shadow governor' is captured in Pakistan

The Taliban "shadow governor" of a northern Afghan province, also considered an important figure in the movement's overall leadership, has been captured in Pakistan, according to Afghan and Pakistani officials. Word of the arrest of Mullah Abdul Salam and a Taliban associate follows disclosure this week of the recent capture, also in Pakistan, of the Afghan Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, whose influence has been described as second only to the movement's spiritual leader and supreme commander, Mullah Mohammed Omar. Intelligence sources in Pakistan on Thursday also reported the arrest of three suspected Al Qaeda militants in the port city of Karachi a day earlier. Taken together, the cluster of captures represents a sharp rise in cooperation from Pakistani authorities in pursuing Islamic extremists, particularly Afghan Taliban militants who in the past have used Pakistani soil as a haven.