The most senior Taliban leader held by U.S.-forces in Afghanistan has been freed after helping to broker talks between U.S. officials and Taliban fighters.

An Afghan government official said Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban's foreign minister until their ousting in 2001, had been released from captivity in the southern city of Kandahar.

A close friend of Muttawakil said he had been released four days ago.

"Now he is living with his family in Kandahar," he said. "I myself have spokesman to him by telephone."

Muttawakil, considered a moderate member of the radical Islamic movement, surrendered to Kandahar authorities in February 2002 and was handed over to U.S. forces.

A foreign ministry official, who did not want to be named, said Muttawakil had played "a very important role" in arranging talks between U.S. forces and the Taliban near the airport in Kandahar a few days ago, but declined to give more details.

U.S. military officials could not immediately be reached for comment and have not indicated that they have been in talks with the Taliban, which has stepped up attacks on U.S.-led forces and others in recent months.

Taliban intelligence official Mullah Abdul Samad said the group had had no contact with Muttawakil. "There is a possibility he may have been released to sow rift in Taliban ranks," he told Reuters.

Most of the Taliban's top leadership, including its one-eyed supreme leader Mullah Omar, have evaded U.S.-led forces since the movement was swept from power in late 2001.

But U.S.-led forces arrested several Taliban officials in early 2002, including Mullah Mohammad Chamkani, a former adviser to Omar, and the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef.

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