Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), visited a hospital in Kabul just days before Pakistan carried out an airstrike on the Afghan capital, informed sources told Afghanistan International.
According to the sources, Mehsud visited Hewad Shifa Hospital, located in Qala Cha along the Kabul–Logar highway, to visit wounded members of his group. They said the hospital had previously signed a contract to treat injured TTP fighters, but terminated the agreement after the airstrike.
Hewad Shifa Hospital denied the claim, however. A hospital spokesperson told Afghanistan International: “We have no specific contract to treat the wounded; all patients come on an individual basis.”
After Pakistan’s recent airstrike on Kabul, Mehsud released a video statement showing himself in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, following unconfirmed reports suggesting he had been targeted in the attack. Sources later confirmed the video was recent and filmed in Khyber district, though Mehsud’s current location remains unknown.
The same sources said the vehicle carrying Mehsud was targeted in the airstrike, but he survived.
Mehsud became the leader of the TTP in 2018 after his predecessor, Mullah Fazlullah, was killed in a US drone strike.
Following Pakistan’s airstrikes on Kabul and Paktika provinces, reports also circulated claiming that Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a senior TTP commander, had been killed. However, Afghanistan International sources confirmed that Bahadur is alive and had been residing mainly in Barmal district of Paktika province.
Bahadur, who leads the Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction of the TTP, belongs to the Madukhil branch of the Wazir tribe. He has also been seen in other parts of Afghanistan, including Shakardara district of Kabul in 2022.
Both Noor Wali Mehsud and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, key figures in the Pakistani Taliban movement, hail from Waziristan and have played central roles in sustaining the TTP and its affiliated networks. Despite a longstanding rivalry, both men continue to wage separate insurgencies against Pakistan, while maintaining close ties to the Haqqani Network, from which they reportedly receive official support.
