The Taliban swiftly rejected a Pakistan-Afghanistan mini-jirga's call for dialogue on Tuesday, with a spokesman saying it was 'worthless'. "This jirga was founded by the Americans. It has no power, no respect," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said by satellite telephone from an undisclosed location. "We will not hold any dialogue while foreign troops commanded by the Americans are in our country," he said. Afghanistan took a first step towards opening talks with the Taliban with a meeting in Saudi Arabia last month between a group of pro-government Afghan officials and former Taliban officials. But the Taliban dismissed those talks too.