Afghan Taliban Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund met with Pakistani politician Fazlur Rehman in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a bid to alleviate bilateral tensions amid continuing Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attacks in Pakistan and Pakistan's mass deportation of Afghan migrants in recent months, AP reported on Jan. 8. Rehman is the chief of the religious political party Jamiat Ulema Islam — which has supported the Afghan Taliban — and he reportedly maintains close ties with the influential Pakistani military.