Pakistan denies Afghan-Baradar talks

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Interior Ministry has denied reports which claimed that Afghan officials had held talks in a secret meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's former second-in-command presently being detained in Pakistan.

The reports said that an Afghan delegation led by Afghan President Karzai's National Security Advisor Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta had held a meeting with Mullah Baradar two months ago in a Pakistani prison.

It is pertinent to mention here that Mullah Abdul Ghani Bardar, the Taliban's second-in-command after Mullah Omer, had been arrested from Karachi in February 2010 and is in Pakistan's detention since then.