Afghan Taliban deny Mullah Omar wrote to White House

The Afghan Taliban denied on Saturday that the group's leader Mullah Omar wrote to the White House last year. The White House received a letter in 2011 which purported to come directly from Mullah Omar, asking the United States to deliver prisoners whose transfer is now central to American efforts to broker peace in Afghanistan, an Obama administration official said on Friday.
"Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan rejects this baseless rumour with the strongest of words," a statement on the Islamist group's website said, using the name by which the Taliban often calls itself. The letter, intended for President Barack Obama, reportedly expressed impatience that the White House had not transferred five former senior Taliban officials out of Guantanamo Bay military prison. The White House itself was "sceptical" the letter was actually from Mullah Omar, the official said, though others within the administration believed it was authentic.