A senior Pakistani Taliban commander has been captured in south-eastern Afghanistan in what was hailed as a major sign of much improved relations between the two neighbouring countries.

Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, described as a top-ranking Pakistani member of the Taliban, was captured on Monday, along with three of his bodyguards and a small cache of weapons, in Mohmand Dara district, which shares a border with Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

The ambush was carried out by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), and the Afghan police, an official in Nangarhar said.

With some worried that the Taliban could continue to gain ground in both countries, an allied front from the two nations’ governments should certainly increase regional stability in the weeks and months to come, and assuage the concerns of some doubters.