A Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the...

A Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the Taliban executed key opposition leader Abdul Haq in Kabul.
The official said Haq, a former mujahedeen commander who was reportedly on a peace mission in Afghanistan, had two satellite phones and U.S. currency on him when he was arrested.
According to an independent, non-Taliban source in Pakistan, the Taliban convicted Haq and two associates of spying for the United States, after a brief trial. After their sentences were read, all three were executed.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman said Izzatullah Khan Sahil, the 22-year-old nephew of the slain former mojahedin commander, and another anti-Taliban commander, Haji Dawran, were the other men executed.
A former US government official who helped Haq arrange and finance his return to Afghanistan said Haq's trip was coordinated with US intelligence agencies as part of the effort to improve the fighting capabilities and coordination of opposition forces, and to try to persuade some Taliban forces to lay down their arms or defect to the opposition.
But an adviser to the exiled Afghan king in Italy said Haq was in Afghanistan "to implement the peace and the steps we created here in Rome for a peace mission in Afghanistan.
"We knew that his mission was a peace mission, he did not go to Afghanistan to fight," said Abdul Sattar Sirat, an adviser to exiled Afghan King Mohammed Zahir Shah. "He was part of His Majesty the King's peace proposal and he went there to contact with the tribal leaders."
The Taliban have warned that anyone showing support for the former king could face death.