Arrests of Taliban leaders have had a "negative impact" on efforts by the Afghan government to broker a peace deal with the insurgents, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said yesterday.

The arrests in Pakistan of the Taliban's second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and others in the Islamists' hierarchy, had slowed down Afghan government peace initiatives, Siamak Hirawi told AFP.

"We confirm the negative impact of the arrests on the peace process that the Afghan government has initiated," said Hirawi, Karzai's deputy spokesman.

His comments were the first official confirmation from the Kabul government that it had been in contact with the Taliban with the intention of discussing an end to the insurgency, now in its ninth year.

He also confirmed that the UN's former envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, had held peace talks with Taliban figures and said Eide had kept the Afghan government informed.

Eide's talks were part of a process initiated by the UN to help the Afghan government's peace plan, Hirawi said.

"Mr Kai Eide's efforts were a supplement to Afghan government's efforts.

"The Afghan government has been leading this process and the United Nations has tried to help efforts to solve the Afghan problem through talks, and the international community has also agreed with us," he said.

"The international community has agreed with us that those Afghans who are not linked to foreign intelligence or terrorist organisations" can be part of the peace process, he added, apparently referring to Pakistan and Al-Qaeda.

Karzai's office previously said there had been no "direct" contact with the Taliban and refused to comment on any indirect contact. There has also been no official mention of contact with the movement's leadership.

Hirawi made no reference to Taliban leaders, possibly reflecting the complexity of the issue, which involves multiple parties and has attracted opposition from inside and outside Afghanistan.