The BBC has reported that the UN's former envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, has made strong criticisms of Pakistan's recent arrest of high-ranking Taliban leaders.

Mr Eide said the arrests had completely stopped a channel of secret communications he was having with senior Taliban members.

He said he had been speaking to the men over the past year in benign locations such as Dubai and elsewhere.

While Pakistani officials insist the arrests were not an attempt to spoil talks, Mr Eide has claimed they should have known about the many channels of communication that had sprung up between high Taliban officials and senior representatives of the Afghan government, including President Hamid Karzai.

He said while contacts with the Taliban had accelerated in recent months, it would now take many months to re-establish confidence for any peace process to move forward.

A Pakistan military spokesman this week denied Pakistan had moved against Taliban leaders in order to stop any talks.