The islands of the Maldives are used to visitors of the exotic kind - from Russian oligarchs and Hollywood megastars to environmental activists and diving fanatics. But at the end of January, they hosted perhaps their most unusual guests ever during three days of clandestine peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The meeting at the Bandos island resort was kept secret until yesterday when Muhammed Zuhair, a spokesman for the President of the Maldives, confirmed that it had taken place. He said the Maldivian government was not involved directly in the talks, which took place shortly before an international conference on Afghanistan in London on January 28. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, announced at the London meeting that he would call a peace conference with the aim of luring Taliban fighters from the battlefield. The United States has also now approved plans to offer a truce to low and mid-level Taliban fighters, although it remains sceptical of striking deals with the Taliban leadership. An official source in the Maldives told The Times that the talks there were between "some of Mr Karzai's people" and "moderate" Taliban representatives. "It wasn't sponsored by the Maldivian government, but it was done with its knowledge," he said. "Our position is that we'd like to support any peace initiatives." Mr Zuhair said that among the Taliban representatives was the son of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a notorious warlord and former Afghan prime minister. Mr Hekmatyar leads the anti-government Hizb-e-Islami faction, one of the fiercest insurgent groups fighting Nato forces in eastern Afghanistan, but he has also made repeated overtures to Mr Karzai. The Taliban representatives were apparently permitted to travel to the Maldives having been removed from a UN blacklist that froze their assets and imposed a ban on their movements. Mr Zuhair said the government delegation included four Afghan lawmakers and a relative of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the late leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. Mr Massoud, an ethnic Tajik, was killed by al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. There were about a dozen people on each side, Mr Zuhair said, adding that there were "unconfirmed reports" that a UN official was also present. Kai Eide, the outgoing UN chief in Afghanistan, is reported to have met Taliban representatives at around the same time. He had also joined Mr Karzai in calling for senior Taliban figures to be removed from the UN blacklist last month. Syamak Herawi, an Afghan government spokesman, confirmed the participation of the Afghan lawmakers, but denied direct government involvement in the talks. Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said there had been lots of indirect contacts with the Taliban, but no "peace negotiation going on somewhere in the shadows". The United States is not in direct contact with Taliban leadership," he told reporters in Kabul. "Why not? Because they aren't renouncing al-Qaeda. We're not going to talk to people who are affiliated with al-Qaeda." He did not mention the gathering in the Maldives, but said a recent meeting that Mr Eide had with Taliban representatives was an example of the "indirect contacts" with the insurgents. He also said Mr Eide was not working on behalf of the United States. It was not immediately clear who organised or paid for the meeting on Bandos, which is a short speedboat ride from Male, the Maldivian capital. The 225-room Bandos resort is currently charging rates ranging from $US267 for a standard room to $845 for its "Water Villas", according to its website. It advertises activities including spa treatments, water sports, sunset dolphin cruises, karaoke and live music. "The island of Bandos is a perfect setting for that romantic getaway or those two weeks of bliss away from work," it says. "The sense of calm and serenity the island emanates is truly otherworldly." The Maldives - an archipelago of more than 1,200 islands with a population of just 396,000 -- also hosted leaders of the Tamil Tiger rebels from neighbouring Sri Lanka during abortive peace talks in 2002.(The Times)