KABUL, 20 September 2021, (TON): The European Union will focus on humanitarian aid as it figures out how to deal with the Taliban, aiming on an informal arrangement with Afghanistan's new rulers to ensure safe aid corridors, four diplomats and two officials said.

More than a month after the group took control following a chaotic Western withdrawal from Kabul, EU governments are also limiting their presence to the Qatari capital, Doha, where the Taliban have a representation.

The reduced ambitions reflect security concerns and confusion about who to deal with in the Taliban after their leaders announced a provisional government without women that ran counter to appeals from world powers for an inclusive team.

Diplomats said “the formation of a government of Taliban veterans and hardliners as well as widespread reports of human rights abuses have dented optimism they had changed since running the country between 1996 and 2001.”

An EU diplomat said that the Taliban will have to make a choice between money or isolation, but we have very little expectations of them. Today there are no signals."

Limited aid convoys are reaching Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Taliban took power on Aug 15, via the United Nations refugee agency. UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi also met with the Taliban in Kabul last week.