Afghan Taliban denies talks with UN officials

KABUL, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan Taliban in a statement sent to media on Monday rejected reports that the outfits had any talks with the United Nations officials and rebuffed the reports as "not true and baseless."

"Last Friday, the former UN envoy to Afghanistan Mr. Kai Eide told media that he had met high-ranking Taliban leaders and talked secretly on peace deals process," said the statement.

The Taliban denies the comment of Eide and calls it as an irresponsible act that is completely baseless, said the statement.

The statement added that "the enemies" directly or indirectly use media making propaganda such as "peace talks" in Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Dubai, adding the insurgent group has never sent or received any invitation or message for the peace talks.

The outfit's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, who has not been seen in public since ousted from power by the United States- led troops in late 2001, had previously conditioned any talks with President Hamid Karzai's government with the complete pullout of more than 120,000-strong NATO and U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

However, the Afghan government plans to call a National Conference on Peace, or Peace Jirga, in late April this year to find ways to end the nine year war in post-Taliban country.