Pakistan has arrested former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, regarded as a top figure in the Afghan insurgency, a Pakistani intelligence official said.

The Taliban is planning to carry out a countrywide polio vaccination campaign despite the US-led bombing campaign.

Hundreds of rabid dogs are roaming the streets of Afghanistan’s war-wounded capital, a Taliban official said today but there is no vaccine for the three or four people who report to hospitals with dog bites every day.