Mr Ahmad Khan said the talks aimed to move forward what he described as the process of better understanding reached between the Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and President Mohammad Khatami at their meeting in September in New York.

He said he hoped the talks would remove any misgivings or misunderstanding, and strengthen relations between the two countries.

Correspondents say Islamabad and Tehran support opposing sides in the Afghan conflict and that their separate efforts to bring about peace talks have had little success.

Pakistan is one of the few countries to have recognised the Afghan Taleban administration.