General Abdul Raziq, Kandahar's police chief, said on Wednesday that Pakistan is trying to create a third Taliban group in Afghanistan under the leadership of Mullah Qayoum Zaker.

Raziq said that Pakistan was irked by the Taliban after they failed to take responsibility for some attacks in Afghanistan, including the deadly Shah Shaheed truck bombing in Kabul in August last year. He said as a result, Pakistan is now trying to establish a third Taliban group in the country.

"At the moment one Taliban group is active in Afghanistan under the leadership of Mullah Akhtar Mansour and the second is under the leadership of Mullah Rasoul. But Pakistan is trying to create a third party under the leadership of Mullah Qayoum Zaker and in this regard Saraj Haqqani (a senior leader of the Haqqani network) is cooperating with Pakistan," said Raziq.

"Pakistan repeatedly asked the Taliban to claim responsibility for the Shah Shaheed attack, but they didn't claim this, and after that there was the mysterious death [by poison] of Sayed Mohammed Haqqani," he said adding that those who do not accept Pakistan's orders will face death or imprisonment.

His comments come after Pakistani military and political analysts said that Pakistan has reportedly increased its pressure on the Afghan Taliban in a bid to get them to the peace talks tables. Pakistani officials reportedly sent letters to the Taliban asking them to join the peace talks with Kabul stating that if they failed to do so they will be expelled, along with their families, from Pakistan.