KABUL, 14 February 2022, (TON): Officials said “a Taliban delegation arrived in Doha in a new bid to convince governments to provide humanitarian aid, six months after the hardline Islamists toppled Afghanistan's Western-backed regime.”

The Taliban's foreign ministry said on Twitter “the delegation, led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, will meet with the EU delegation in Doha, diplomatic missions and officials from Gulf countries.”

Their arrival in Doha was confirmed by international sources including a spokesman for the British government, and the trip comes as Afghanistan's aid-starved economy sinks deeper into an unprecedented crisis.

The latest bid to unlock aid follows meetings in Oslo late last month between representatives of the Taliban and governments that heavily bankrolled Afghanistan's previous government, which imploded in the face of a Taliban military offensive in mid-August.

The Taliban government has yet to gain formal recognition from any country and the UN says that half of Afghanistan's 38 million people face food shortages.