Mullah Mohammad Is'haq Nizami, who returned to Afghanistan this week from Pakistan, told reporters, "It's a matter of pride for me to be back in my country."

Nizami however refused to answer any questions, saying: "I'm not ready."

He headed and ran the Taliban government's Shariat Shagh (Voice of Sharia) radio station before the US-led invasion that toppled the hardline regime in November 2001.

The radio station broadcast religious texts and news, with music banned by the ultraconservative government.

Nizami had been in Pakistan running an underground magazine called Sirek (Shine) for the Taliban, who are now waging an insurgency against the US-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said.

"He's an important person because he was Mullah Omar's spokesman and currently was actively running a paper for the Taliban and against the government," Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

Nizami surrendered as part of a government reconciliation programme that gives Taliban amnesty and some financial support if they side with the new government. About 2,000 people have joined the scheme.

The Taliban confirmed that Nizami had surrendered but said he was not a significant figure.

"He is mentally sick," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP. "He had some cultural relations to the Taliban but he was not an important person."