Ajmal Omar Shinwari, Spokesperson, Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF), has officially confirmed that Indian photojournalist Danish Siddique was captured and executed by the Taliban.

A Pulitzer Prize winner, Danish Siddique was killed while covering clashes between Afghan troops and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city.

Shinwari also repeated the claim made by other Afganistan government officials that the Taliban are funded and supported by Pakistan. "Its a proxy war that the Afghanistan government is fighting," he said.