Pakistan has freed a group of Afghan Taliban in an attempt to improve its troubled relations with the South Asian neighbour, but risked angering Afghanistan by not handing them over directly to the Kabul authorities.

The announcement followed last month's trip by Afghan president Hamid Karzai to Pakistan, where he sought the handover of some Afghan insurgents as part of the stalled peace process. Both Karzai and the US want Pakistan to hand the insurgents directly to the Afghan authorities, but yesterday a group of seven Taliban were allowed to walk out of their cells into Pakistan.