Afghan national shot dead in Pakistan on spying charges

Taliban militants have shot dead an Afghan national over espionage charges in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region, residents said Wednesday. The bullet-ridden body of the Afghan national was found five kilometers away from Miranshah, center of North Waziristan, near a canal, they said. An official said the man in his 40 and he was identified with the help of a note recovered from his pocket. He said that an ATM card of Afghan Bank was also found with his body and Taliban militants had kidnapped him from Afghanistan and brought him to Pakistan. Another note was found near the body which says that he was spying on Taliban for the US forces in Afghanistan. The note warned that all those would face similar fate if found while spying on Taliban. Taliban militants in North Waziristan have killed dozens of people including Afghans on spying charges. Taliban sources say that the US has established a strong network of spies in the region to monitor their activities and pass on information to the US intelligence. They say that Taliban are targeted by US spy aircraft on the basis of intelligence by spies. Tribesmen say that drone strikes in North Waziristan have forced militants to avoid public appearance and also keep on changing hideouts. Pakistan publicly opposes drone strikes but some opposition groups and defence analysts say that strikes are conducted with the consent of the Pakistani government. The government denies the charge. Afghan officials say that North Waziristan region is a main launching pad for Taliban, al-Qaeda and Haqqani network to launch cross-border attacks into Afghanistan on foreign and Afghan forces. Pakistan is under mounting US pressure to act against the militants in North Waziristan, still under Taliban control, where the security forces launched a peace deal with the main Taliban group in 2007. Both sides still hold the agreement despite several attacks by other militants group who are believed to be operating in the region.