KABUL: The Taliban denied Saturday that leaders of the group fighting to overthrow the Afghan government had met UN representatives to discuss bringing peace to Afghanistan.

The Taliban issued a statement branding reports of a meeting with the UN's outgoing special representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, in Dubai this month "rumours" and "propaganda".

Referring to itself as "the leading council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" -- as it did during its 1996-2001 rule of the country -- the group said the reports were "propaganda by the invading forces against the jihad and mujahideen".

"The leading council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly denies the rumours reported by some international media about talks between Kai Eide and representatives of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," the Taliban said.

"To defuse this (propaganda) we insist on continuing our holy Islamic jihad against the enemy," it said, referring to the US and NATO forces fighting the Taliban insurgency.

The statement said the Taliban's refusal to negotiate peace had ensured that an international conference in London on Thursday, attended by around 70 countries, was a failure.

"Now in an effort to recover their military and political prestige, the enemies are resorting to a propaganda conspiracy."

The reports that Eide had met Taliban figures emerged after the London conference, which aimed to thrash out a road map for Afghanistan's future, one of the main themes being the social reintegration of Taliban fighters.

A UN official revealed that "active members of the insurgency" had met Eide this month, at their request, to discuss peace talks.

Eide met the men in Dubai, reportedly on January 8, and details were shared with the Afghan government, the official said on condition of anonymity.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who hosted the conference, declined Friday to comment on the reported meeting, calling it an "allegation".

Asked to comment while attending the annual World Economic Forum meeting in the Swiss Alps, Miliband said tersely: "You'll have to talk to the UN about that, because that's an allegation that's been run in the newspapers."

The Taliban had already dismissed the London conference as a propaganda ploy, calling US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "war-mongering rulers" who wanted "to deceive the people of the world... that people still support them".

Karzai's government is backed by 113,000 US and NATO troops, with another 40,000 being deployed this year to bring the fight to the Taliban, who many military officials say are starting to show signs of battle fatigue.

Nevertheless, a customary winter slowdown in fighting has failed to materialise, with foreign troop deaths at 44 this January, compared to 25 in January 2009.

The latest deaths came on Friday, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which released a brief statement saying that two US soldiers and a US civilian were killed in eastern Afghanistan.

An ISAF spokesman confirmed to AFP the "employee" was an American civilian but said no further information was available on what happened or where.

ISAF also said that two Afghans were killed after failing to stop their vehicle when ordered in the southern province of Ghazni on Friday. It said "an ISAF force fired on a vehicle when it failed to heed several warning signs to stop."

"Unfortunately, two Afghan civilians were killed and one was injured by the disabling shots fired at the engine block of the vehicle as it approached at a high rate of speed," ISAF said, adding: "A fourth civilian in the vehicle was unharmed."

In a "friendly fire" incident in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, four Afghan soldiers were killed and another seven wounded, according to a spokesman for the provincial governor.

"Afghan soldiers and ISAF were conducting a joint operation, after which the Afghan soldiers were returning to their base in Salar, in Sayed Abad district, when clashes erupted in the dark around 3:00 am (2030 GMT)," said Shaidullah Shahid.

He said the ISAF forces also sustained casualties but he had no details and ISAF made no comment.