LONDON - Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, former Ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan before September 11 and a senior Taliban member, visited London last week amid closely controlled security, according to a report. Zaeef, who is still said to be closed to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, attended a closed conference part funded by the British Foreign Office to discuss peace proposals aimed at ending the fighting. The Taliban leader arrived in Britain on Wednesday and stayed in a central London hotel. He was banned from speaking publicly by the terms of his visa but is thought to have held private meetings with British officials. Britain is attempting to facilitate talks between Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, and senior members of the Taliban. A senior British Foreign Office official said last month that senior members of the Taliban had been putting out feelers about making peace with the Western-backed government in Kabul. Zaeef is the first individual linked to the Taliban regime to have been granted a visa to travel to Britain. His name was only removed from a UN Security Council blacklist last summer, at the request of Mr Karzai. The conference at Kings College, London, brought together opinions from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, the United States and Britain. Discussions have also taken place in the United Arab Emirates as Kabul and the coalition powers attempt to find a political solution to Afghanistans problems. The Afghan conference in London 12 months ago, attended by President Karzai, laid down three conditions for the Talibans participation in government giving up the armed struggle, renouncing al-Qaeda and working within the Afghan constitution. However, the current talks are thought to be conducted without preconditions, although Foreign Office sources say they do not want to shine too much light on the process, for fear of bringing delicate negotiations to a halt.